


Home

by Delphiniums



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Powers, Disowning, Don't worry I love fluff more than angst, Feat. my dry humor, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hyungs love their maknae, Idk really how angsty this is, Insecurity, It wasn't supposed to be angsty at all, M/M, No Smut, Soulmates, Things evolved aight?, everyone has powers, horrible parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-22
Packaged: 2018-12-19 05:40:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 54,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11891196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Delphiniums/pseuds/Delphiniums
Summary: After years of small altercations, the Warden is up to something new – a change of direction that ends up making a huge impact on everyone. No matter the outcome, things are changed forever. The X-Clan just wants to live in peace, without needing to dodge bullets and constantly hiding, and at the same time Changkyun finds it harder and harder to deny his feelings for a certain hyung(AKA The one where MX and the rest of the Kpop world has powers and humans are out to get them.)-!!Was previously named Black holes and water/Dare to be selfish!!





	1. Intro.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this idea came from really, but i realized; no one else is ever going to write EXACTLY what I'm thinking so better do it myself. Yeap. So here we are. My first fanfic ever yay  
> I don't think I've ever put so much work into writing smth. Period. I have 11k words written already but I don't know how many chapters this'll be. My plan *crosses fingers and prays to the gods* is to post one chapter each week. 
> 
> I apologize in advance if there are any grammatical errors or misspellings because English is not my first language. 
> 
> Anyways. I'm glad you're here and I hope you'll enjoy
> 
> -
> 
> Edit: Slightly edited some sentences in chapter one 29/1.

Changkyun walked down the familiar hallway, irritatingly wiping the sweat from his brow for the nth time since he and Shownu had finished their run. Even though it was over 15 minutes ago since they ended the workout he was still out of breath and was still pouring sweat everywhere.

 

_Damn Shownu. Damn Minhyuk._

His leader had first suggested to his obnoxious boyfriend to join him for a run, which promptly had been shot down with a shit-eating grin, a wink and the motivation; _“Nopity nope nope. I am still tired and sore from our last work out.”_

Now.

 

Changkyun _knew_ the fireball hadn’t worked out since last week which made it practically impossible for Minhyuk to still have training cramps, but Changkyun wasn’t going to ask. Not again.

 

The bear-like guy had zero to none resistance to his partner’s wishes and could apparently not push him any further for a joint workout. Unfortunately for the youngest of the squad, who was the only other person present in the room, the leader’s eyes now landed on him. With a combined look of ‘strict-older-brother-who-looks-out-for-his-younger-brother’s-health’ and an actual pout, Changkyun complied. Now he was drenched and exhausted and wished for nothing else than to take a long, refreshing shower and then go to die in the nearest corner available.

 

The rocky corridor he was walking was actually a hollowed path in the side of a giant crater. It was called ‘Solar’ – mainly because of how the sun would beat down in the center of it during the day. It had thick, solid rock walls encasing the cavity, perfect for hiding out and living in. Jiyong and his squad, ‘Bigbang’ some jokingly called them, referring to one of the crater’s creation theories, found it 11 years ago and decided to make it a haven of sorts for Ethereals as their kind were called. Humans rarely took kindly to their sort, although most humans were unaware of their existence or speculated about them as urban legends. They had a knack for scaring the shit out of their non-supernatural parents with their little “tricks” and after a couple of years of raising them, it would often start to unnerve the parents to the level of detesting their own children for having too many weird “accidents” or “incidents”.

 

By now Changkyun had heard it all; everything from parents disowning an Ethereal for unintentionally lifting everything not nailed to the ground in the room, running away from the echoes of “demon” and “cursed” thrown at their back, to Ethereals fleeing their home with the threat of getting reported to the police for attempted arson after accidentally burning down their house. They generally tend to draw away from humans also because of their need to “stretch their muscles” from time to time, since very few of them were able to utilize their powers while coexisting with normal humans.

 

Ethereals are born randomly and are fewer than just rare, Changkyun guessed that there were maybe a thousand or two in each country. Give or take, of course, the country’s size and population. No one’s really certain about how it actually works, theories ranging from everything between mutations to possibly alien genes, and it’s hard when you can’t ask humans and their fancy equipment for help, the fear of landing as an experiment a pretty strong concern. Changkyun himself believed them to have mutated genes, in the same way some people have blue eyes and so on.

 

But they were today mostly treated as an urban legend by the majority of humans walking the earth and appeared frequently as spandexed heroes in comic books, movies and the like. History of their kind was sparse and they mostly featured in religious text and legends, often just in a few lines, not really helping anyone in figuring _anything_ out, except for saying that they’d existed for a long, _long_ time.

 

Seunghyun of the ‘Originals’ as others called them, and Changkyun usually called those people ‘Uncreative’, but that’s beside the point, was basically the creator of all accessible living space Solar offered. With his nifty earth powers he’d began hollowing the mountain out with winding corridors, rooms of all sizes, windows and whatnot. As other groups gradually joined Solar, Seunghyun got help on his renovation adventures, expanding the haven to accommodate for the approximately 150 Ethereals currently living in Solar, Changkyun’s own faithful Shownu hyung of course lent a hand when they’d joined. Speaking about joining, Changkyun’s own group, the X-Clan, had recently celebrated their second anniversary at Solar, making them one of the newer recruits. The entire crater grounds had acted as party ground and bottles of a worryingly diverse collection of liquor could still be found at the most random of places.

 

Changkyun’s first meeting with the X-Clan was to say the least, _eventful._ The group had more or less stumbled upon him a faithful night, 3 years prior to Solar. He had been hunted and they had taken upon themselves to save him as fellow Ethereals. Because, although most humans are happily unknowing of the existence of Ethereals, the government had caught whiff of them around… Changkyun didn’t know _exactly_ when, but long enough ago that all Ethereals had a real threat to hide and defend themselves from. They were called the W.C.H.W, short for Warden of Civilian Health and Well-being, most called them the Warden, though Changkyun preferred WC for HyungWon. It’s all personal preference he guessed.

 

The night the X-Clan had met Changkyun, they’d only just created the official clan, even though most of the group had known each other for practically their entire life. Although Changkyun really wasn’t a stranger to altercation – because of his unusual powers he’d had to learn how to fend for himself early on – he’d been _sixteen,_ heavily out-numbered and _so. Fucking. Tired._

 

He’d been on his own for a year after his group of friends had split up, for numerous of reasons, but foremost because of discord amongst themselves; too many different wills they’d said. This isn’t working they’d said. Taehyuk, unofficial leader of the group, had brought down the final axe by saying that Changkyun had – _singlehandedly –_ grabbed the Wardens attention, thanks to his rare powers, and that they would eventually be hunted down if they continued as a group.

 

Now, afterwards, Changkyun knew that was straight up _bullshit_ , because he was now more or less living with 150 other people in congruence. At the time it had made sense to his 15 year old brain though. They’d been young, inexperienced with the world and how it worked against them and splitting up would make them less of a target to the Warden. But alas, a lonely wolf is not necessarily a strong wolf, and he wished he’d known the old saying “strength in numbers” before agreeing with Taehyuk’s decision. The words had stung him worse than any before, because although he’d almost willingly left his family a year ago, after too many sneers and detesting side glances from his parents for his “strange behavior”, Changkyun had felt more at _home_ with the boys than at his actual house he’d once called home. It could actually hurt Ethereals in an almost physical manner to be apart from other Ethereals which was why Changkyun’s psyche had taken such a blow after the split. They are also usually very affectionate with each other, no matter who they were, but the group had been broken and malfunctioning thanks to the fear the Warden had instilled in it.

 

Changkyun didn’t really know what had become of the others from his old group, he didn’t really want to either since, like he’d told the boys of his new group; they had been young and dumb and had not even had the sense to cover their faces while facing the Warden, making them easily recognizable to the W.C.H.W. patrols. None of the other boys had had any really extraordinary powers and had little to no time to hone them either. One had weak telepathy with only a few meters range, another’s powers were so weak that he didn’t even know what his “specialty” was – he only knew he was an Ethereal because of his “super strength” which he couldn’t control most of the time, resulting in a lot of handles being torn off from doors, or just the door itself from its hinges. Every Ethereal had some ounces of enhanced abilities beyond their “specialty”; greater speed, stamina and strength than most normal humans, although not by much, and their senses were enhanced too. But not one of Changkyun’s old group had had any of the strong elemental powers that were so prominent in Solar. Here it was rarer that you _didn’t_ control an element, or an aspect of it, he thought, thinking of Xiumin: the oldest of another group in Solar who could freeze things. “EXO”, they liked to call themselves, practically convinced that they were alien beings stranded on earth, only half joking about it too.

_Well. Whatever makes them feel better about their existence. I don’t judge. We all have different coping measures I guess._

 

Because, what _else_ were you supposed to do when you have no real purpose, _lots_ of power and were shunned by society? They were almost starting to resemble a cult at this point, but they were chill, never pushing their belief onto another group. There was a reason the twelve had become a clan from the start; having similar beliefs and probably too many drinks when the theory first appeared. Changkyun put his bet on Chanyeol as the original conspirator – the giant fire elemental had probably more than a few screws loose, at this point Changkyun was _convinced._ Jooheon agreed with him. At their second anniversary party, the powerful, albeit shit-faced drunk, fire Ethereal had thought it was a _marvelous_ idea to make a bonfire of the vegetated center of the crater. And he’d _laughed_ while doing it, the madman. He had not laughed the day after though, hungover and miserable, when he’d been cleaning up after the party as a punishment. Changkyun chuckled at the memory from a few days ago.

_Serves him right._

 

Changkyun took a right in the white-painted hallway and headed for the showers while he recalled his first memory of the X-Clan.

 

-

 

It had been a cold December night and he’d just stepped out from a small convenience store, his meager dinner consisting of a packet of protein bars and a water bottle in hand. The cold air seeped through his all-too thin jacket which was originally made and intended for nippy summer nights than winter’s freezing temperatures. Cold, tall buildings loomed over him and he was surprised it actually hadn’t started snowing yet. Warm lights twinkled from street shops and boutiques, reminding Changkyun of Christmas’s approaching date. Rubbing his tired eyes, the 16 year old started down the cold block of houses. The streets were practically empty – sparing him off seeing all the happy-pappy families doing Christmas shopping, not really in the mood to be reminded of his own joyful childhood Christmases. He’d gotten around the corner of the building, stepped off the frosted sidewalk, entered through a rusty gate to an unlit, small, downtrodden park before the Warden had made their presence known. The sound of heavily booted feet on half-frozen, wilted grass and the click of guns tore loudly through the otherwise quiet night.

 

“Place what you are carrying on the ground and put your hands behind your head! You are hereby under arrest for terrorist crimes and suspected of endangering civilians amongst other criminal activities!”

 

There were about six or seven soldiers clad in dark Kevlar and helmets surrounding him with cocked guns, quietly awaiting orders. The man shouting about crimes and justice and whatnot, stood behind a large, reinforced vehicle, parked just outside of the park, a megaphone in hand. He was tall, gangly and had a large bald spot on top of his head. Changkyun could read the letters “W.C.H.W.” everywhere he looked, making it hard to mistake them for anything else than men of the Warden. Changkyun assumed it was the blockhead in the black suit, who was waking the entire neighborhood to watch the scene as it unfolded, who was also the man leading the charge. Swallowing hard and trying to relax his tense muscles to prevent them from shaking he tried to focus on his powers. Concentrating on redirecting light away from himself and to gather the darkness of the night around him – trying to veil himself in it.

 

“If you do not come quietly, we will use brutal force!” the moron behind the armored van cried.

 

A lightbulb went out in a nearby lamp-post outside of the park, cloaking the entire area in thick darkness. Breathing out a shaky whirl of white Changkyun let the darkness swallow him, making him one with the night. A second of silence went past before baldy wailed again, realizing he’d lost his target.

 

“OPEN FIRE!”

 

Changkyun, almost invisible in the darkness, became discernable only to sharp eyes in short bursts as bullets smattered past his small frame. Keen eyes would be able to spot him as a pitch black silhouette against the dark night.

 

Ducking down as best as he could, he dashed towards the playground area of the park, his feet kicking up dead grass in his hurry, dinner long since forgotten on the yellow lawn. The bullets, he vaguely noticed, did not actually follow him. Which meant they couldn’t see him. Taking refuge behind the old rusted slide he sat down and tried to gather his wits. Easier said than done.

_SHIT! SHITSHITSHITSHIT!_

_Okay, Changkyun, in through the mouth out through the nose- or was it the other way around? Whatever! Just think!_

 

His breath hitched slightly through every inhale he took.

_Okay. You just need to calm down._

 

Closing his eyes and leaning his head back at the cold metal of the slide he could hear the suit guy yelling about searching the area before he disappeared. Oh, how Changkyun would have wanted to disappear for real. He could feel an oncoming migraine blooming behind his eyes, exhaustion stalking him quietly between his labored breaths adding further hindering to his strategy making. His dumb self had ran towards the nearest shelter – the playground in the middle of the square park. The playground had a few measly trees surrounding it and the larger square of the park had bigger oak trees lining it, unkempt bushes dotted the entire area creating blind spots wherever you went. Once they’d surrounded the playground it would be hard creeping by unnoticed. He was surprised they hadn’t brought spotlights with them. Thankful, but surprised. However, the person in command didn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed, and Changkyun honestly wondered how such an imbecile could ever land himself in a position of leadership, but that slip-up might come to be Changkyun’s saving. Now, if he could only-

 

A nearby footstep brought Changkyun’s attention back to reality. He had been too lost in thought and stopped focusing on the nearby threat. A soldier was now just a few meters from Changkyun’s hideout. Changkyun held his breath as the man warily glanced around the old playthings, moving slowly, looking left and right.

 

Left and right.

 

Left.

 

Right.

 

Left.

 

Righ-

 

He suddenly stopped and leaned in a millimeter closer towards Changkyun, as if squinting, before his muscles tensed and he hefted up his gun ever so slightly.

_Shit._

 

Not really thinking, his legs mostly reacting on their own behalf, he ended up throwing himself on the soldier, tackling the man to the ground. A shot went past Chankyun’s side, grazing him just a tiny bit. He tried to get up just as fast, but the soldier was apparently prepared for some sort of reaction and grabbed Changkyun’s left hand in a bruising grip. Halfway up, and not prepared for the sudden resistance, Changkyun landed heavily on the man’s chest once again, losing his breath slightly. The soldier brought down the butt of his weapon on Changkyun’s temple, making his vision swim for a few seconds but also shattering what little focus Changkyun had had on the darkness he still was cloaking around himself. More shots were fired in the dark – though at random once again; they could still not see clearly where the scuffle was taking place. They struggled against each other for a few moments, quiet grunts escaping along with condensed breaths, before Changkyun finally gained leverage and pushed up. _Hard._ He would later say he probably cracked one of the soldier’s ribs while getting off the ground. He stumbled backwards a few steps, almost tripping over the slide, before standing on shaking legs trying to stop his ragged breath.

 

Putting a hand on his forehead he tried to still his fuzzy vision from tilting. Figures left and right were quickly closing in on the pair and Changkyun desperately tried to grasp the shadows once more as haphazardly shot bullets whistled past.

_Huh. Someone finally thought it a good idea to turn the light on._

 

The idiot in charge had finally realized what would reduce Changkyun’s powers and was now pointing a spotlight towards the center of the park. Brain not up to speed, Changkyun futilely kept trying to camouflage himself in the now nonexistent darkness. What he instead managed to do was to gather more than enough shadows for himself – and for anyone five meters away from him too.

 

Changkyun just kept gathering darkness, darkness, _darkness –_ like a mantra in his head, until it felt like he was just sucking in more and more breath till the point of passing out. The running soldiers and the one still struggling on the ground didn’t notice the complete _blackness_ covering the ground before they were swallowed by it.

 

Whole.

 

It looked like they sank right through the ground, as if they were unfortunate to step through a pit of quick sand.

 

If you just keep breathing only one way, not really letting any air pass, you will eventually lose consciousness. It isn’t technically possible to consciously suffocate yourself, but that was the feeling Changkyun experienced. He just kept drawing the breath in and he couldn’t _stop._ He felt like he would swallow the world whole if he kept this up.

_Was it always this cold?_

_I’m feeling sick._

 

Beginning to panic as the shadows began stretching further over the lawn, he was thankfully saved by his exhaustion and already weak state when he finally passed out from over-using his powers. A pulsing headache set in, muffling all noise surrounding him. The shadows completely dissipated the moment Changkyun’s knees hit the ground, leaving no trail of the four soldiers who’d been taken by the darkness.

_I got four at least._

 

He didn’t really remember much more from the night, other than the world tilting strangely to the left and more shouting and more footsteps and more gunshots and-. Darkness. Not the cold, crawling type of darkness he’d just experienced, but the comfortable lull of being pulled under to a seemingly better place. He regained some semblance of consciousness a while later though, when he felt strong, warm arms and a strong, warm chest pulling him close and up from the freezing ground. He had probably said something, or done something, to indicate his wakefulness as a soothing voice had rumbled over his head.

“Don’t worry, we got you. We got you,” was all he heard before he was being pulled under once again.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, this became longer than I planned but oh well. (I don't think this is what you should expect from me on a regular basis tho hehe)
> 
> I also just want to say that I have personally nothing against Nu'bility and I'm sure they're all lovely guys, but someone had to be a bit mean :I

Changkyun himself barely knew how his powers worked. To be frank, he didn’t think of them as _that_ special; he was just connected to an element, sort of, as many other Ethereals were. He wasn’t even that powerful, but of course humans would dearly like to pick him apart to see for themselves what his abnormality was made of. It’s what humans do: they find something new and interesting, only to pick their insides apart just to sate their damn curiosity. They don’t really think twice before killing a species for “the sake of science” as they called it. “There’s probably more of it where it came from, anyways.”

 

Today he had better control of his “black holes” as Minhyuk had dubbed them, but he detested using them; they exhausted him and left him cold, shaking and sick, with an odd sense of dread and anxiety following close by. He would gladly live his entire life not knowing the full extent of his darkness if he could avoid it. Everybody seemed to have different theories of where exactly the victims of the black holes ends up – some say a different dimension, others say they disintegrate into thin air. Changkyun himself just liked not thinking about it. It took care of the enemy, end of story.

 

Speaking of which; everyone in Solar had different ideas when it came to “taking care” of the enemy – some groups never even fought, while others didn’t have a problem with killing, too bitter and angry at humans for taking so many rights from them.

 

Avoiding talking about a problem wasn’t exactly the most mature way to handle it, but it kept the peace and they had bigger problems to take care of. Anyone was free to leave when they wanted to and there was also a reason why many groups was never sent out together – they simply couldn’t cooperate during missions. A guy from one of the non-fighting groups had left during winter simply because he couldn’t stand the way some squads carried out their patrols. Taehyun was his name if Changkyun recalled it correctly.

 

The X-Clan had a simple philosophy: fight the enemy, if they die, they die. They weren’t out to kill, but weren’t going to hold back just because they were facing people with lesser power. It was the Warden who was after _them._ Not the other way around. They were defending themselves and that was that.

 

-

 

In movies and comic books, the superhero would wake with a start after experiencing a slight downfall in battle, brimming with energy and ready to fight evil once more. Changkyun was definitely _not_ a superhero. He felt groggy and disoriented, not knowing where he was. He was positive he was laying on a bed, or a cloud more like it – it had been long since he’d felt the soft comfort of a real, actual bed, sleeping in public restrooms, park benches, open fields – when it was warm enough – and other places he never would’ve thought he’d sleep in.

 

His hand felt like lead when he tried to bring it up to rub at his face. He felt slightly nauseous too, not enough to make him want to puke, but just enough to have the sensation of an irritating lump laying at the back of his throat. He groaned and slowly rolled to his right side, eyes slowly squinting open to the sight of sunlight filtering through grey window panes. He watched dust lazily floating around for a minute or so while he tried to remember who and what he was, mind slow after waking up. He was somehow astounded by the tranquility of it – it reminded him of late Sunday mornings, when his mother actually let him sleep in.

 

He discovered he was wearing nothing more than a grey t-shirt, that was not his – smelling way to much detergent to be any of Changkyun’s dirty old clothes – and _hopefully_ his own boxer briefs, not really comfortable with someone having changed all his clothes at the moment. Turning to the left he scanned the rest of the room and there wasn’t much to take in; white walls with cracking paint, a small wooden drawer left of a door with equally peeling paint as on the walls. A small heater under the paned window kept winter’s cold at bay. Above the bed a large lightbulb dangled from a wire, the only artificial light source in the room, and to the right of the bed a three-legged stool acted nightstand, looking ready to collapse under the light weight of an old-fashioned alarm clock, telling Changkyun it was 10:36 in the morning.

 

Changkyun’s foggy mind suddenly turned clear at the notion of time existing and probably a world outside the room too, and he tore the grey cover off of himself and quickly stood up – which proved to _not_ be such a brilliant idea as his drained limbs protested under the sudden weight and promptly decided to take vacation. At the same time, the door swung open, and a lanky boy with dark brown hair, wide eyes and plump lips stood in the doorway.

 

“Whoops! Take it easy!”

 

Before Changkyun could hit the ground, the boy had crossed the small distance in two strides and caught Changkyun by the shoulders. Changkyun got the feeling of weightlessness as the stranger _literally_ picked him up like he weighed nothing. It was a strange feeling the few seconds on the way back to the bed as Changkyun felt like paperweight – if the boy let go he would probably drift away.

 

When he was safely on the bed once again, though this time sitting up against the wall, the feeling disappeared, leaving him the strange sensation of his true weight returning. It reminded him of his first time trying a trampoline as a kid because when he had gotten off, it felt like his legs were being pulled by heavy chains when he had tried lifting them.

 

Putting a hand on his chest he almost felt a bit winded after the small event. His head spun a bit too, telling him that _no_ , he should not be moving at the moment.

 

Noticing Changkyun’s obvious distress the boy apologized. “Sorry, you’re a lot lighter than I expected,” he said with a small smile while scratching the back of his head. “You’re probably feeling a bit wonky now,” he continued.

 

“Uh, yeah,” was Changkyun’s intelligent answer, his voice even darker and raspier than usual thanks to just having woken up. The boy was obviously an Ethereal too, probably around his own age, though Changkyun couldn’t really figure out what his power was; he wasn’t telekinetic – he wouldn’t have bothered physically picking Changkyun up if he was. But he wasn’t Warden at least, and that fact considerably relaxed Changkyun, not really feeling up for fighting right now, thank you very much.

 

“My name is Hyungwon, what is your name?”

 

Before Changkyun could answer, the door creaked open again, another boy making his way through. This one had black hair, a small face and was at least 10 centimeters shorter than the one standing at Changkyun’s bedside. He didn’t seem to notice Changkyun’s awoken state, and was at first only directing his gaze at Hyungwon before his eyes glided to Changkyun on the bed.

 

“Why are you taking such a long ti-. Oh! He’s awake!” he exclaimed, Changkyun noticed a small lisp while he spoke and found that a smile was tugging at the corners of his lips for incredulously noticing something so insignificant at the moment.

 

“How are you feeling?” the short one asked, coming up to stand beside Hyungwon, and Changkyun suddenly felt overwhelmed by such a simple question. He hadn’t held a normal everyday conversation in so long, and to be actually asked how _he_ was feeling threw him off guard. That someone bothered to ask something so rudimentary almost made him tear up right then and there - on a bed which was not his, in a place he was not familiar with, in front of two strangers. He tried to keep his expressions from seeping onto his face before answering.

 

“I-, I uh,” he ducked his head and tried to gather his social competence.

 

“I feel fine, thank you,” not believing Changkyun’s attempt at being polite, the boy with the lisp gave a small, warm smile before speaking again.

 

“Okay, it’s nice to know you have manners, but how are you _really_ feeling?” before Changkyun could answer he continued; “I’m still learning, but I managed to fix your scrapes and that bump you had on your head. I’m not really good when it comes to power exhaustion though, sorry,” he said smiling apologetically.

_Ah. That’s why I feel like crap._

 

"I’m Kihyun, by the way, I’ve got a healing type of powers if you didn’t catch that already. The beanpole’s name is Hyungwon,” he gestured to the brown haired boy.

 

“He knows. I just told him you idiot.”

 

“Hey! Respect your elders, stick figure!”

 

“I would, if they were worthy of my respect,” he drawled lazily, putting his hands in his jeans pockets. Changkyun found himself smiling slightly at their banter, it felt familiar and reminded him of the happy times with Taehyuk and the others. Though not all times had been good between the five of them, it sometimes had been.

 

“I feel drained and a bit nauseous to be honest,” Changkyun admitted sheepishly, interrupting their teasing. Kihyun turned to him again and filled in some missing words Changkyun left out; “Groggy? Limbs of lead? Headache? Hungry? Basically the worst hungover ever, if you’ve ever tried alcohol that is.”

 

Changkyun hadn’t, but nodded lightly at the questions, trying not to jostle his head more, before correcting the short boy; “I’m not really hungry though,” he muttered awkwardly.

 

“No? You should be, and even if you aren’t, you should really eat something. And drink; you’re malnourished, dehydrated and severely sleep-deprived to boot,”

 

Either Kihyun had been bashful about his abilities or just straight up lied that he wasn’t skilled: only a competent healer could tell a person’s state when using their powers on them.

_Well, he didn’t technically_ say _he doesn’t have skills; just that he was still learning._

 

“When I examined you, I discovered this has been going on for a longer period of time,” his tone told Changkyun he wasn’t really expecting an explanation, just stating a fact.

 

As silence began settling in the small room, Hyungwon suddenly spoke up.

 

“Well, this is nice and cozy and all, but you still didn’t answer my question, before Kihyun so _rudely_ interrupted our conversation,” he spoke with feigned haughtiness and if he’d had long hair, he’d probably flipped it over his shoulder.

 

“Oh, right. My name is Changkyun,”

 

-

 

The rest of the X-Clan had all eventually introduced themselves throughout the day. Shownu was the leader of the little rag-tag group of teenagers, he was tall and built, but had a certain softness to him under his stoic complexion which reminded Changkyun of a bear, which later led to his nickname “Papa Bear”. Wonho was the second oldest and controlled water; he was taller than Kihyun but more muscular than Shownu. He had short jet-black hair and an angular jaw, but soft, warm eyes contrasting nicely to his otherwise tough appearance. After a while of knowing him, Changkyun realized how much like his element he was; he could be warm and pleasant when in good mood, but would be just as volatile as a storm when in battle.

 

Minhyuk wasn’t as tall as Hyungwon, but he was almost as thin. He controlled fire, or “more or less”, as he’d said. He was made up of sharp, angular features, and Changkyun – who had expected a cold personality to match his appearance – was almost taken aback by the cheery aura he emitted when he first introduced himself.

 

Jooheon was the youngest of the group and looked like a schoolyard bully when he’d first walked in; a snapback in place, large chain dangling from his neck and a frown hooding his naturally thin eyes completed the look. His black hair was buzzed short under the cap and he had small lips and a strong jawline. It was, once again, when he first introduced himself that Changkyun realized how bright his personality was: bubbly and cheerful like Minhyuk’s. He could control electricity, and was as fast and unpredictable as his element.

 

What really surprised Changkyun was that they all looked… _good._ They were all dressed in nice clothes, looked rested and fit _and not on the run._ Besides that they were all _really_ attractive, making Changkyun self-conscious about his rundown appearance; shaggy, unkempt hair, old clothes and his general dirtiness. _Especially_ since he was well-aware of his sexual orientation.

_Now’s_ not _the damn time._

 

He mentally chided himself for even thinking something so stupid at the time. After inquiring, Changkyun found out that they were currently in the group’s hide-out and home; an abandoned, small house located outside the city. The reason behind its abandonment was unknown, especially since it wasn’t _that_ rundown, although Changkyun skeptically looked at the fraying paint job surrounding him when that had been said. The house had a working generator in the basement, providing water and electricity. When they ran out of fuel, Jooheon would act as the generator and if it was further needed they also had a small fireplace if the winter turned harsh.

 

Shownu had then explained what had happened after Changkyun had passed out the previous night. Apparently the squad had heard the gunshots and rushed there, discovering a teenager surrounded by armed men bearing the Warden’s initials, sucking them up in an abyss of darkness. It didn’t take a genius to realize that he was an Ethereal and it had filled them with rage – that one of their kind was being attacked by humans. Moreover, he was a single scrawny teenager against a trained squad of soldiers and that didn’t seem very fair in anyone’s view, even if he possessed special abilities. After seeing the Ethereal boy collapse they’d jumped in and quickly taken care of the few soldiers remaining. Wonho had then carried him here, where Kihyun had tended to him.

 

After the story had been told, Changkyun had experienced Kihyun’s mothering abilities for the first time – he’d threatened to force the food he’d cooked for Changkyun down his throat if he didn’t eat it himself.

 

 _“Whether_ _you’re hungry or not,”_ as the healer had said. Changkyun’s enhanced hearing had picked up Minhyuk’s helpful contribution: _“Don’t try him! He’s not kidding_!” from somewhere else in the house, a loud laugh ringing alongside it. Changkyun didn’t want to ask how Minhyuk was certain of this fact, instead focusing on swallowing down his chicken broth soup without getting more sick.

 

Changkyun had then just awkwardly lain alone in the room, contemplating of what he should do next. He did not long for the cold streets and the uncertainty they so often brought, feeling his heart ache for the simple comfort of company from similar people. Ethereals are much more herding than humans, depending more on each other than their non-supernatural relative race, which is why they often tended to create little clans or tight-knit families – and the teenager suddenly felt a pang of jealousy after seeing what these people had and what he did not.

 

A few hours later the aged alarm clock showed 16:54 and he decided it was time. He didn’t want to overstay and intrude on their kindness, and rose drearily from the bed for a second time that day to make his leave, enabling a familiar scenario to play out. Body still too tired to handle any real extortion he had collapsed before he’d even reached the door – which had swung open, revealing Wonho who had thankfully acted quickly and caught him. Although a bit clumsily – not really prepared to face exhausted, falling teenagers when he’d walked through the door. Changkyun’s head had however been saved from hitting the floor, fortunately enough. Swiftly picking the drained boy off the floor he’d carefully placed him on the bed, _once again_ ; everything coming back like an annoying deja-vu.

 

And Changkyun was _embarrassed._ Embarrassed that he couldn’t take care of himself, or even walk out of a damn room on his own. Eyes screwed shut he tried to will the blush from rising above his chest and up to his ears. To add further injury to his pride his head was now also spinning worse than _ever_ and he just wanted to go to sleep.

_Huh, Chankyun. You should maybe work on that stamina – three steps isn’t a very good personal record._

 

Setting him down, so very carefully, Wonho tucked him in under the covers again.

 

“Maybe you should take it a bit easy,” he softly suggested while slowly sitting down on the bed, the underlying meaning was obvious in Changkyun’s ears. “Unless, of course, if you need to use the bathroom. I can help you there if you want,” he smiled gently, offering some dignity in the shape of a choice to Changkyun, even though they both knew _very_ well that he wouldn’t make it down the hall to the toilet without support.

 

“No, it’s okay, thanks,” he mumbled while slinging an arm over his eyes, trying to will the stinging afternoon light away, speaking slowly and softly. The soft winter sun and a few moments of silence filled the room before the youngest broke the stillness again.

 

“I don’t want to take advantage of your kindness and I’ve already been too much trouble,” he answered the elder’s first proposition, and if Wonho hadn’t been sitting right next to him, he wouldn’t have heard the boy’s whisper. The older raised a hand and gently stroked the younger’s hair. Changkyun tensed for a second and surprised himself the next when he practically melted under the affectionate gesture, just accepting the simple feeling of warmth that he hadn’t experienced in a long time.

 

“Maybe you should stay,” Wonho just as quietly said. The seconds dragged on a few too many, making it almost sound like he added the next sentence as a second thought, “for a while.”

 

Changkyun’s heart shuddered at the proposal.

 

 _Why? Why would he ask me?_ _No one wants me. I should say no, he’s just asking out of politeness. He doesn’t really care. Who in their right mind would_ _care for a complete stranger?_

He swallowed hard and tried to will the forming lump in his throat to _go away_.

 

_I feel like shit though, and I can’t even make it out of the room without help. Maybe I should take it easy for a while. I’ll just leave as soon as I can._

“Yeah,” he croaked and was glad he still had the arm over his eyes, covering the few stinging tears escaping his eyes. His chest felt warm.

 

“Maybe I should.”

 

-

 

He ended up staying longer than that. A lot longer. Shownu asked him to officially join them after about a month of awkward uncertainness about what his status in the group was. Changkyun struggled for a long time, even after joining, with just relaxing in the other’s company, always having a creeping feeling of doubt in the back of his mind; _“What if they’re just pitying you? Maybe they’re tired of you. Don’t make an inconvenience of yourself.”_

 

“When you’re already feeding and fending for six people, a seventh doesn’t really make that much of a difference,” after seeing Changkyun’s mouth open to argue he quickly continued in a firm tone, “– you’re _not_ a liability.” Letting the older speak, Changkyun closed his mouth.

 

“First of all; we all like you,” he bluntly stated, very Shownu-style.

 

“Second, we are all stronger together. If you want to take it down to a business kind of level, I can simply state the facts – you need protection, because the Warden has, for some reason, their eye specifically _on you_ and you won’t last long on your own at this point. We can always use some help managing the house and, even if you don’t believe it, _we_ could use another fighter: there’s strength in numbers,“ he finished, lips curving into a small smile.

 

He was trying to make Changkyun stop looking at what people might think and believe, and look more to the sensible side of it, even if it _really_ wasn’t the true reason for the X-Clan wanting him to join – like he’d said, they all liked him, and by guessing from his month long stay, he liked them enough to not want to part with them either. He had particularly bonded with the ex-youngest of the group, Jooheon, who had a knack for coaxing out Changkyun’s brighter, quirkier side.

 

They had a lot in common they’d discovered – both enjoyed music, including making it, the same type of video games, even if he kept losing to Jooheon every time they played, they shared religion and lots more. They’d eventually become as close to brothers as non-blood related possibly could.

 

Another one of the members he felt more relaxed around was Wonho – the second eldest had a way of calming him, making him feel comfortable and at home. Which was why he could ask him about everything and anything, and they’d shared some deep and honest conversations during the last month.

 

Once, the X-Clans powers had been brought up and Changkyun had told him about his – the cloak, the shadows and the black holes and all the misery it had brought him. Wonho had quietly sat and listened the entire time, seeming genuinely intrigued by his powers and his story. The whole time in the house Changkyun had been too shy to ask Hyungwon directly, so instead Changkyun quietly inquired Wonho about the lanky boy’s abilities one day when they were lounging on the couch, enjoying the quiet afternoon lull. The elder leant down to the side to catch his whisper as they both knew that Hyungwon was in the house. Upon hearing the question he smiled at his shyness and answered; “Hyungwon is able to manipulate an object’s weight, or gravity more like it. Though only temporarily – as long as he focuses on it, he has control. To be honest, like most other Ethereals do too.”

 

Seeing Hyungwon enter the room he grinned and added “That’s why got no muscles: he just makes everything weigh nothin’ and then just picks it up,” he ducked under a flying remote control which made an _abnormally_ loud noise when crashing to the wooden floor.

 

“Are you trying to kill me?!” he shrieked.

 

“Don’t worry, that weight wouldn’t get through your thick skull to harm anything worth needing anyways,” Hyungwon smirked.

 

“You little sh-!”

 

“I’m taller than you,” Hyungwon calmly cut off.

 

“I’ll kill you! I’m done with the amount of disrespect this house contains!” he theatrically screamed. Changkyun only chuckled at their antics, and Wonho turned to him – begging him not to mistreat his elders as the other “ill-mannered kids” did.

 

He laughed and promised not to.

 

Changkyun didn’t know exactly what it was about Wonho really, but it felt _warm. Wonho is warm._ That’s the best way he could describe the elder.

 

So, Changkyun said “yes” to Shownu’s offer making him the seventh, the newest and the youngest member of the X-Clan.

 

-

 

In the end he knew he owed them _everything._ They had understood him, both as fellow Ethereals, who knows of their affectionate nature, but also just as decent people. Before them he had nothing – his biological family never liked him because they didn’t understand him and his “strange” behavior.

 

Taehyuk’s gang was hardly worth mentioning; all they’d done was to raise his hopes of actually belonging to something – having someone to rely on, who would in turn rely on him with their feelings, hopes and dreams – to just have everything torn down. When not even the people who actually understood what it was like to be cast out by everything you’d ever known wanted you, Changkyun had hit rock bottom.

 

He didn’t know what exactly kept him alive that whole year of being alone, maybe the nice old lady who sometimes would pity him and give him some leftover food or some clothes her son had long since grown too big for, or seeing happy families just enjoying their day.

 

Changkyun had unfortunately been chased away from the small town he’d taken refuge in thanks to the Wardens large armored cars he’d spotted a sunny spring day in April. In the next town he’d amazingly enough landed himself a job. It was at a dingy car wash who hadn’t asked about his origin or age, just assuming he was another kid who was trying to earn some pocket money to buy ice dream for during the heat waves of summer. While he was exhausted and dirty, to say the least, he’d gotten a sense of purpose back – earning dirty money and slaving for the shitty owners.

 

During the day he would wash luxurious cars and during the cool nights he’d take refuge outside the city, on a large field, watching stars and learning about his powers. He’d until then lived in the same city up to late November when once again he’d been pursued by the Warden, this time he’d actually fought back, instead of just running, but had in the end been forced to leave this city too. A few weeks later he’d met the X-Clan and that had been his turn-point.

 

They’d lived quite peacefully for a time before the W.C.H.W had shown its face again – but this time Changkyun wasn’t alone and he fought and he _won._ Thanks to his new brothers they’d fended off the attack and continued with their lives; making scraps from the odd jobs they could pick up here and there, nothing too big or for too long, so that they could avoid being caught in legal affairs, which in turn would eventually alert the Warden, when they’d matched faces to names.

 

For two, almost three, years they lived like this, until after a larger battle with a Warden unit where everything changed. A week after the clash an androgynous man with fiery red hair showed up at their doorstep, accompanied by another man with bleached, blonde hair. He introduced himself as Jiyong and his companion as Seungri and told them about a place – Solar – he’d founded as a refuge for Ethereals. Apparently the X-Clan had drawn attention to themselves thanks to their latest encounter with the W.C.H.W, and a conversation consisting of a lot of where’s, how’s and why’s followed.

 

Jiyong had heard about them thanks to the intel they’d succeeded in gathering from the Warden and Jiyong had then decided to find them before they did. The next attack from them could potentially destroy the clan _or worse,_ especially since it would be easier to find them seeing as they lived quite exposed outside of a small town – it would probably be a matter of time before they were discovered. Solar on the other hand was hidden in a mountain area, covered by a dense forest, close to the coast and it offered protection, community, housing and more.

 

After the pair had left – only a phone number left as a trace from their visit – a group discussion had commenced; bouncing the pro’s and con’s back and forth, but also Jiyong’s trustworthiness. A few hours of discussion later they’d finally determined that the dangers of staying were too many and in the end decided to trust the young man, contacting him the very next day, telling him that they would like to join Solar.

 

It had been a swift relocation, and they’d all been affected by the big change of setting, but they’d been lucky to be found by Jiyong so quickly. _Real_ lucky. A couple of days later they had read in the newspaper how a “wildfire” had mysteriously burnt down the house they’d been living in – in addition to about a kilometer surrounding it, scorching the neighboring abandoned houses besides the vegetation. Apparently, the W.C.H.W had been – _unsuccessfully –_ trying to smoke them out from their hiding. The Warden, most Ethereals found out, were quite ruthless when it came to hunting, and bore surprisingly little regard for the innocent humans – that they were _supposed_ to protect – dragged along in their wake.

 

 _Well, clearly_ something _went wrong along the line of being “protectors of the public”. “Warden of Civilian Health and Well-being” my ass. Maybe it really does stand for WC for Hyungwon; at this point I wouldn’t be surprised._

 

-

 

Changkyun broke out from his reverie when an arm casually landed across his shoulders. Startling slightly he looked to his right finding Jooheon’s face next to his own wearing a satisfied smile.

 

“Yo! Did I scare you?” he amusedly commented, obviously having tried sneaking up on him.  

 

“You didn’t at first but seeing your ugly face this close makes me wanna run and then maybe puke a little,” Jooheon only answered with an “aww” and then chuckling mushed his cheek against the younger’s face.

 

Changkyun recoiled while making gagging noises and tried to wriggle out of Jooheon’s hold all while Jooheon laughed loudly at his struggling. The scuffling however quickly died down, leaving the elder’s arm right where he so promptly put it.

 

“I see Jackson finally got to you with his big can of bleach,” he commented, seeing Jooheon sporting a new, silvery hair color. “I swear, your soulmate is one of the weirdest people alive,” Changkyun continued with a scoff. They kept walking the uneven hallway floor, passing “windows” – open holes facing the crater – giving them random glimpses of greenery bathing in the warm midday sun.

 

Ethereals sometimes had soulmates, as some called it – others just said it was a person you bonded with. And when you bond with someone, you feel a particularly strong connection with that certain Ethereal and can to some extent feel their emotions and sense their presence. Some choose to spend their lives together as lovers, while others just remained as close friends.

 

It’s a vague and elusive forming, very often leaving the parties confused about their relationship with each other, mostly because of how the bond is formed. It can happen at first sight of the other, or happen over time, just growing closer together while the bond establishes.

 

For Jooheon and Jackson, it was like love at first sight; they just clicked in the same way you finish a jigsaw puzzle, complete with their antics and rambunctious behavior – together they spread trouble wherever they went; Jackson with his inhuman speed and Jooheon with his electricity. Jackson was one of the few in Solar who didn’t control an element, instead ending up with extreme speed as his supernatural ability, apart from for his other enhanced senses and strengths. He made do with what he had and always sought to improve himself even if he didn’t have anything special beyond his speed, and as a result he had probably become the fastest being alive.

 

Minhyuk and Shownu, however, were not soulmates, instead just a normal couple, or as normal as you could get with Minhyuk in the mix. It was more common that way – to be just a couple than be bonded as soulmates – simply for the reason that it was hard to find your mate.

 

“Yeah, well, there’s a reason we’re soulmates. Do you like it?”

 

“Yeah, man its cool. White suits you,” he smiled.

 

Satisfied with the answer his back got straighter and he grinned again. They fell silent for a while before Jooheon broke the stillness again.

 

“Why’re you fucking wet?” he half-shouted all of a sudden.

 

Changkyun turned his head eyeing him through damp locks of dark blue hair with an incredulous look on his face.

 

“ _Please._ Do not tell me you didn’t notice until now.”

 

Jooheon only scratched his nose a bit, somewhat embarrassed of his lack of observation.

 

“To answer your question though, Shownu kinda’ forced me on a run,” Jooheon’s loud cackling tore through the corridor, echoing probably around the entire base. Normally, Changkyun liked it when Jooheon laughed – it’s a bright and loud, like the rest of him – but now it was starting to sound downright _evil_. When he didn’t stop laughing Changkyun irritatingly elbowed him in the ribs and muttered at him to _cut it out_.

 

“It’s not _that_ funny.”

 

Holding his poor ribcage he caught his breath and answered; “Oh, but it _is.”_ At that, Changkyun raised an eyebrow in question.

 

“It’s our turn in the pit today, and you look like you’re gonna collapse already,” with that he began laughing again at Changkyun’s misery. This time it was Changkyun who could be heard all the way around the Solar crater, _groaning_.

 

Now he _really_ wanted to die. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG! U MADE IT. HALLELUJA.
> 
> To celebrate, maybe give some kudos for this crap of a fic or maybe even leave a comment? I would sincerely LOVE to hear what you thought!  
> Ask me anything if you're confused, I'll answer as soon as I can :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not 100% happy with this but oh whale
> 
> btw it's my liberty as an author to make everyone have crappy parents. EVERYONE  
> lol ok enjoy

The pit was just a large underground cavity where the Ethereals could stretch their muscles, so to speak. A basement meant for training and cutting loose, and they all shared it. They had a nice little colorful schedule, telling each group when it was their day to freely use it. It had a couple of days per month where everyone was permitted to use it, but then most people just worked on their individual skills, rather than the team based one’s. It was completed by a couple of Super Mario stickers, which everyone was sure was Jin’s work. He of course strongly denied it, saying that he was a grown man who didn’t use stickers.

_Whatever you say, Jin._

Everyone at Solar was in Changkyun’s mind awfully uncreative when it came to names.

_The pit? Really?_

Having freshened up a bit at their dorm, he then joined Hyungwon, who had – _enviously enough_ – been lounging on their sofa, to walk down to the basement already in the mood for going to bed. He was wearing, what Chankgyun guessed he'd been wearing since the morning, a couple of tight work-out pants and a flimsy, long-sleeved t-shirt, dark hair covered by a black cap, matching the shirt's colour. The youngest himself sported a black hoodie, some sneakers and a pair of tight sweatpants.

When they reached the pit everyone except Jooheon was present, gathered in a loose ring, though the electricity Ethereal quickly joined them shortly after Changkyun and Hyungwon had arrived, plump lips and disheveled hair told the clan just _exactly_ why he’d been late. After dropping off the youngest of the group at their shared “apartment” in Solar, Jooheon had continued down the hall, apparently running into his soulmate shortly after.

“You’re disgusting, Jooheon,” Minhyuk fake-sneered, barely containing his amusement.

“Are you really one to talk though, Minhyuk? You and Shownu are really revolting too,” Kihyun remarked, smug grin in place, leaning forward to see Minhyuk’s face to his right. Shownu quickly interrupted the would-be fight by explaining what they would be working on today.

“We’ll just do some light training this session, just some quick one-on-one's since we have a patrol shift tomorrow and I don’t want to bring a half-dead squad with me.”

“Ya! From what I heard, you practically already killed Kkukkungie this morning!” Wonho suddenly interjected from Changkyun’s left, causally slinging an arm around his shoulders. His heart warmed at hearing the nickname the water elemental had so endearingly picked for him a couple of years ago, motivating it with saying that the youngest reminded him of a puppy.

How Wonho had found out about the youngest and the oldest run, Changkyun would never know, though.

“I did not kill him. We just went for a jog,” Shownu defended with a frown, almost appearing to be offended for being accused of Changkyun’s supposed murder.

“I almost died, Shownu,” Changkyun deadpanned with big eyes and started to pout for more effect.

Before the situation could go any further, Hyungwon exasperatedly offered they’d start training soon or Changkyun really will die the next day.

The pit was a huge cavern, lit with cheap, fluorescent lights like an old school gymnasium and was about as big as a football field. The staircase ended in one of the short sides and the large square was just a field of hard, rocky terrain with a few worn leather couches pushed in the corner of the short side, right of the stairs. Cracks and small craters were scattered over the floor and walls at random from previous exercise fights.

They separated into pairs to work on one-on-one combat as many in the squad often preferred melee instead of using their powers from a distance. Hyungwon could lift his enemies, or weigh them down but to inflict damage he often needed to get close and actually strike them. Changkyun favored hand-to-hand combat to his shadows - because of the toll it took on him, both physically and mentally. It wasn’t like he never used them; that would be stupid and irresponsible – to go into combat and then not being able to control his powers if he found himself in a pinch.  
Both Jooheon and Minhyuk could use theirs at a distance without a problem, but it required more of their energy to do so, instead favoring just using them directly on the enemy’s skin.

The two oldest differed from the rest however; Wonho found it harder to use water when it was mixed with other liquids and substances, e.g. mud or blood, and instead fought from a range with water blasts and other attacks. It didn’t really matter to Shownu whether he was in close range or not, using his rocks and ground powers to smash his opponents no matter what distance he found himself at. They were both however very prominent in hand-to-hand combat, both having aptitude for it with their actual muscle strength and had in their younger days exercised different martial arts individually. Shownu had trained some boxing for a couple of years, while Wonho had practiced taekwondo when he was younger – giving them both experience in fighting even before being chased by the W.C.H.W.

Kihyun needed to actually touch his victims; his power that could mend flesh and basically bend the cells to his will, also included tearing the tissue apart. It was quite horrible to watch him use his abilities on enemies – rendering them grotesque and contorted heaps of blood, bone and muscle after commanding the cells to separate themselves. Although he was the “healer” of the group, he rarely stayed at home while the others patrolled. It may seem reckless, but it was not Kihyun’s style to sit and wait at home while the rest of the clan risked their necks for the haven – he was an abled fighter and he could make his own decisions he’d said.

Solar was not an organization, nor a military society – which came with both pros and cons. They really were just people finding security in each other’s company and then they handled things from there. It wasn’t like they didn’t have a system, and there were rules, but in the end they couldn’t force people to do things.

_Annoyingly enough._

The leaders came together every so often to discuss matters that concerned their little mini-society – everything from the Warden’s movements, to how each group was faring to things like pool parties and so on. They were a diverse bunch and sometimes things needed to be vented and sorted out, because if there was one thing Solar couldn’t afford it was discord. They were struggling with the world enough as it was, they didn’t need extra difficulties from within too. Jiyong acted as the voice of reason and as the “commander” because of his experience, but also since Solar was founded by him and his group, making the haven “theirs’s” in a sense.

While Shownu supervised and directed the session everyone paired up; Changkyun with Hyungwon, Jooheon and Minhyuk and Kihyun faced off with Wonho.

“We’ll just go for a couple of two minute long face offs to start with!” Shownu barked, ready to start the clock.

“You ready?” Changkyun asked the taller, a smirk forming.

“Let’s just get it over with so we can go to sleep soon,” although Hyungwon sounded dreary, his excited facial expression told another story. Hyungwon was the opposite of his normally tranquil behavior when fighting – his slow movements becomes fluid and rapid, very often startling his opponent because of his 180 degree turn in behavior.

“Okay, guys! Start!”

Changkyun let him take the first step, preferring to let the enemy get close before utilizing his quick jabs he’d become so good with. The youngest was fast and explosive in his movements, luring in his opponents close where he had the most advantage.

Hyungwon was well aware of this fact and took a smooth step forward, before speeding up and aiming a roundhouse kick towards Changkyun’s face, dragging some dirt up with his foot. Changkyun quickly ducked, and prepared a punch from his crouched position, aiming for the soft part of Hyungwon’s stomach. He felt his knuckles make contact for a millisecond while Hyungwon gracefully jumped backwards.

“Heh, almost,” Changkyun playfully smirked.

Hyungwon only answered with a slight curve of the corner of his mouth before advancing on Changkyun again, feinting to the left with a punch targeted at Changkyun’s ribs while twisting and loading a kick towards the younger’s other side. After Changkyun first dodged the punch by taking a step back he suddenly found his feet practically nailed to the ground, and had to _literally_ bend himself in half, backwards, to avoid Hyungwon’s foot, almost landing on his butt thanks to his unbalanced position.

He felt his legs loosen from the ground, probably due to Hyungwon wanting to play _a little_ fair.

“Almost,” he practically heard Hyungwon grin from above.

Grunting, he raised himself again and swiftly moved towards Hyungwon again, feinting a couple of rapid punches which the other dodged before suddenly ramming his knee in the taller’s stomach, catching him of guard.

Hyungwon coughed once and took a step backwards while holding his aching stomach. Changkyun hadn’t held back, wanting the small victory of wiping the elder’s grin of his face, so he knew that one had hurt. Although they could take more damage than humans, things still hurt, and Changkyun knew Hyungwon would probably be irritable for the rest of the fight. But this was also the great thing about having Kihyun on the team; you could practically beat the shit out of your clan members without having to worry about the consequences.

“You little-,“ Hyungwon began, starting to get pissed now - just like Changkyun had predicted - before being interrupted by Shownu.

“Okay, times up!”

They continued with the matches for about half an hour, mixing around the partners a couple of times just to switch things up, and somewhere in the middle Shownu swapped with Kihyun to conserve his energy for healing the clan later on. They did some stretching while everyone took turns in the downtrodden sofas to get their bruises and injuries healed by Kihyun. Jooheon was the worst off after an intense fight with Wonho, leaving him with a cracked bone in his arm. The water elemental could get pretty fired up during fights and Jooheon had quite the temper, and like most times when they fought, things got heated and then one thing probably lead to another. Changkyun had mainly just sustained some bruises here and there, an especially nasty one blooming black on his ribs from Minhyuk's boney elbow, but other than that was first and foremost achy after both his training sessions.

Thankfully, they had the late shift the next day, which meant they could properly rest and recover before needing to head out. You could either guard the edge of the forest closest to Solar or you could go on patrol on the other side of the nearby town, located around 20 minutes away from the crater by car. They sent out one group to each post every 12 hours – a long shift – but it ensured that each group had long breaks between the jobs.

The guard duty was just to assure no one got close to the base and found it, while the patrol was to drag the Warden’s attention away, to make them think there was something worth defending to the south.

It actually worked too – for years the W.C.H.W had kept sending patrols only in the south directions – leaving the north alone. Their HQ was to the east of the city, inwards the country and Jiyong had directed any groups with stealth abilities, like invisibility, teleportation or the like, to sometimes spy on them for extra intel.  
  
-

The group trudged home at around 7 o’clock and settled down after dinner to watch one of the movies Minhyuk had downloaded while leeching off of the city library’s free Wi-Fi as they didn’t have any themselves. Electricty and flowing water they could provide themselves, but installing a network actually meant bringing a non-Ethereal there, which didn’t really work, so they made do with what they could.

All clans were pretty much self-sufficient in Solar, living together but at the same time separately – the groups had their own living quarters and had all to provide for themselves, which meant getting jobs. Like before joining they did small odd jobs, worked at convenience stores, helped old people with cleaning, walked dogs – basically any jobs they could find that didn’t ask too many questions.

If they _really_ were in a pinch, Jiyong would step in. Apparently, he had some connections somewhere who handled his money, because – although no one really knew just how much – he was loaded. He didn’t talk about it much, just enough to make everyone understand that they weren’t totally left on their own devices.

Some clans had members whose parents were wealthy, who were happy to send money when asked for it, probably not even aware exactly where their offspring were located at - basically bribing their kids with money to keep a distance and to _stay away_ \- apparently happy enough just knowing that their child was alive.

Gathering on the couch, or on the floor with pillows and blankets as they all didn’t fit on it, Minhyuk started fixing up the laptop to the small TV when Kihyun suddenly asked where Wonho disappeared to. A few heads spun around the see if they could spot him but no one did.

“Maybe he feels guilty about almost breaking Jooheon’s arm. I mean – he is really sensitive,” Minhyuk amusedly answered while fiddling with some cables.

“Don’t be mean Minhyuk, having emotions is not bad y’know,” his boyfriend reprimanded from the sofa.

“He’s a crybaby and we all know it,” the fireball just answered, not even bothering turning around to answer his partner’s chiding. Shownu just sighed and a muttered; “ _Why do I even try,_ ” could be heard while he leant his head backwards to rest on the back of the sofa.

“He’s in the bathroom guys,” Changkyun interrupted absentmindedly, while leaning forward from the couch to grab some of the popcorns from the bowl residing on the small plastic coffee table.

“Are you sure? It’s dead silent in there,” Jooheon said after they’d listened to any indication of the water Ethereal’s whereabouts. As if on que, the sound of water running in the shower could suddenly be heard from the bathroom.

“Wow, are you psychic Changkyun?” Jooheon chuckled while turning the lights off, having risen from his spot on the padded floor.

To be honest, Changkyun didn’t know how he knew where the elder had disappeared to. He hadn’t really told him he was going to shower, nor anybody else obviously. Brushing it off mentally as a lucky guess, or as a logical one – as most people probably wanted to shower sweat and grime off after working out – and laughed along with Jooheon.

“Yeah, I am! I’m adding it to my list of abilities,” he joked.

“Well, whatever, he’s not joining anytime soon so let’s just start the film without him,” Minhyuk said, standing up from the TV, obviously done with the set up and crawled up in Shownu's lap on the sofa.

-

It felt like the movie had just started when Changkyun opened his eyes to the rolling end credits, shook awake by someone’s hand. Evidently, he’d been even _more_ tired than he’d originally thought and blearily opened his eyes to a half-empty living room with retreating clan members backs heading for their beds and a Wonho standing above him. He was wearing some dark sweatpants and a white sweater, his pale hair messily hanging damp from the shower over his forehead.

“Hey. The others are going to bed, and you should too,” he said softly, his brotherly – read as motherly – side showing.

“Mmm, yeah,” Changkyun mustered, voice raspy from sleep, feeling very much prepared on giving up on brushing his teeth and changing and instead just decking on the couch, curling up in the corner of the sofa around a pillow.

Wonho laughed quietly at his behavior before stating; “Cute.”

“I am _not_ cute,” Changkyun declared sleepily, voice muffled by the pillow.

“ _Sure_. You’re the terrifying Im Changkyun; Master of Shadows and Ruler of the Abyss, god help us all,” he laughed, placing his hands on his hips.

“Fuck _off_ , hyung,” he groaned and Wonho just kept laughing. “ ’m trying to sleep here,” almost doing so while speaking.

“Oh no, you don’t. Your neck, and probably the rest of your muscles too, are gonna hate you if you sleep on this old thing,” he said, raising an eyebrow at the dingy piece of furniture they’d found abandoned outside a dump, having saved it from decay. Receiving no reply, he nudged the boy again.

“Changkyun?” 

Still not getting an answer from the boy, who had presumably fallen asleep again – or had just ignored the elder – the light haired man contemplated his options for a few moments before reaching down to pick him up.

“What are you doing?” Changkyun mumbled startled and tensed up while quickly wrapping an arm around Wonho’s neck, worried that he would fall to the floor. He didn’t need to worry about being dropped though, as the older held a tight grip around him – also preventing him from squirming away, he noticed after a few moments of struggling. “Just let me sleep on the damned couch,” he exasperatedly said, still trying to wake up.

“No. I know you’re gonna be grumpy tomorrow if you’re achy and tired, and no one wants to patrol with a cranky puppy,” he firmly stated, as if explaining it to a child while turning and heading for Changkyun’s bedroom. They had been lucky enough to get a living space large enough for everyone to get their own bedroom, except for their leader and Minhyuk who shared theirs.

Changkyun gave up his struggling eventually, and just buried his flaming cheeks in Wonho’s shoulder, trying to hide the embarrassment of being picked up and scolded like a kid, although his stomach did some weird flip-flops at Wonho’s casual care for his well-being. It wasn’t like the older didn’t care normally, but lately he’d been extremely clingy and touchy, taking every chance he could, it seemed, to touch, hug and just in every seek physical contact with the youngest.

“Changkyun? You asleep again?” the younger heard him rumble above his head, and instead of answering he was trying to pretend that he had actually just done that, in order to spare himself of more embarrassment.

“You’re so adorable,” the older cooed, hefting up his drowsy cargo a bit higher. Once again, Changkyun didn’t answer and buried his head further in Wonho’s sweater, inhaling his scent. Changkyun didn’t know if he used a cologne or not, but he always thought the older smelt so good and combined with his rocking footsteps the younger felt his eyelids grow heavy again, sleep calling him. The walk from the couch to his room felt eternally long, and he was out before they’d reached his bed.

He wondered briefly during the walk why he was so relaxed at being carried like a child; first of all: he found it embarrassing. Second, ever since that first day at the clan house he’d refused to being carried more than once – even that time when he’d rejected Jooheon’s offer on a piggyback ride after he had twisted his ankle when the two of them had been out alone and they had to _walk_ the entire way back to the hideout.

Having reached the door Changkyun felt sleep officially claiming him and had a weird revelation before giving in to it.

_Huh. Even though it’s Minhyuk who controls fire, Wonho’s embraces are the warmest._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *deep sigh* it wasn't planned but that last part became so freaking mushy. holy mother. kinda cringed myself while writing it. aszxxsaAXDGJKR4Swcv we all need some mushy fluff sometimes aight?  
> sorry. 
> 
> -
> 
> OMG! U MADE IT. HALLELUJA.
> 
> To celebrate, maybe give some kudos for this crap of a fic or maybe even leave a comment? I would sincerely LOVE to hear what you thought!  
> Ask me anything if you're confused, I'll answer as soon as I can :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I missed my deadline this Sunday with this chapter *sigh* but don't worry, I'll finish this fic, I've promised myself that i will lol. I've just been busy with school and birthdays and other things, and will be for some time, so my aspiration of posting one chapter each week might not be realistic at this point, sorry.

Being shook awake at 9 by a Kihyun in full grumpy-mother-mode was definitely one of Changkyun’s least favorite things in the world. The mother hen had it easy for waking up early and took full advantage of that ability by going around the dorm and waking up every member of the clan - no matter what their daily activities might be, so that “ _you won’t sleep the day away,”_ as he’d once said.

 

“Get up, the others are already in the kitchen,” he stated and left the small room which contained nothing more than a desk, a drawer for Changkyun’s clothes, a tall lamp situated in the corner opposite of the door and lastly his bed, which was a rectangular hole carved in the mountain wall, courtesy of Shownu.

 

They had saved some money in making everyone’s bed this way, placing mattresses directly on the rock and managing with that. And although they had at first done it as an emergency solution, even after two years – now that they could afford bedframes – the hollows had survived. Through some sort of silent agreement, the clan had kept them as they were comfortable enough to serve as beds _and_ were extremely cozy.

 

The smell of coffee filled Changkyun’s nose as he trudged out of his room after a few minutes of bringing himself to life, and joined the almost fully seated breakfast table. Hyungwon was of course absent, being naturally tired 24 hours of the day and hard to wake up, but the nagger of the group was also missing; most probably out on his second round of waking the taller boy up. Judging by the irritated tone Kihyun’s muffled voice had - filtering out from Hyungwon’s closed door - Changkyun had guessed right.

 

Scratching his scalp and dragging his dark blue fringe back, eyes barely open and swollen with sleep, the youngest made his way over to the table and sat down between Kihyun’s empty chair and Shownu, who looked about as ready to face the day as Changkyun felt. He began reaching for some of the offered food, trying to secure his breakfast as he knew Shownu’s fuzzy morning brain combined with his empty stomach wouldn’t leave any leftovers – even if all the clan members hadn’t eaten their fill yet. He answered the few mutters of _“good morning”_ and _“mornin’,“_ coming from different seats around the table before he dug into his food. He’d only managed to swallow his first bite when Hyungwon’s door opened and revealed said boy and the resident’s evil healer. The lanky boy sported a hilarious bed head – dark hair sticking up in literally every direction possible – an aftermath of him having styled it the day before and then slept with all the products still in.

 

“Maybe you should put your ability to use, Hyungwon, and fix your hair,” Changkyun couldn’t resist remarking. A grumbled _“shut up”_ was the only answer he got and he smiled at the grumpiness while Hyungwon sat down at the end of the table.

 

The room fell silent for a while, everyone enjoying the quiet morning lull and Kihyun’s cooking. Said cook occasionally fed Changkyun bits of his food, a leftover habit from the time of the boy’s malnourished state when he had just joined the clan; having not had enough food to eat in his time of solitude. He quietly accepted the pieces and spoons approaching his mouth as he’d quickly learnt that when Kihyun had decided on something it was better to just agree unless you wanted to face dire consequences. Minhyuk had once walked half a week with easily healed injuries – until he had caved and gone on his knees and profoundly apologized to the healer and promised to better himself – all because he had refused to clean up a mess Kihyun had been nagging about for some time. He’d thus taught both himself and the rest of the group to _always_ do as Kihyun said.

 

Shownu, unusually enough, was the one to break the silence. “We got the patrol at noon, which means we need to bounce at 11:30, alright?” He looked around the table briefly for confirmation, before continuing; “We have free time until then; no other duties, but _please_ be at the entrance at 11:30, I don’t want another squad leader to chew me out just because one of you couldn’t be on time,” he said exasperatedly and the others chuckled at the memory.

 

 _We weren’t_ terribly _late, just around 30 minutes._

Changkyun mused while refilling his cup of coffee, thinking back to when Hyungwon had come running through the hallway, clearly still sleepy from his nap.

 

-

 

After finishing breakfast the group changed into their patrol gear; a black outfit consisting of cargo pants, army boots, a polo that blended in with the masks they wore over their mouths and noses to protect their identity and finally; a long hoodie-like jacket that reached down to their shins. The two oldest of the group had ripped the sleeves off; claiming that the fabric restricted their movements due to their big arms. Changkyun would maybe believe Shownu for that reason, but Wonho though, the youngest _knew_ did it mostly for the sake of flaunting his muscles.

 

_Sigh. Damn show-off._

After packing their backpacks with some necessities – energy bars, water bottles, walkie-talkies etc. – the group more or less scattered. Minhyuk forced Shownu to play one of the old console games he’d gotten hold off some time ago, Jooheon slinked off to his boyfriend’s dorm, wanting to spend some time with him before heading out. Kihyun busied himself with washing the dishes and cleaning whatever and wherever he found, according to his standard, dirt – he tended to stress-clean as Hyungwon called it, calming his nerves by placing things in order and leaving everything spotless. Changkyun didn’t see where to Hyungwon and Wonho disappeared, only that they left the dorm together, and the youngest decided to follow their example, not really having anything to do in the dorm at the moment.

 

He headed right from the dorm, down the dimly lit hallway, the sun hadn’t climbed high enough to provide much lighting in the corridors without windows – the lightbulbs lining the walls were only lit during the evenings as a way to save power. Seeing another Ethereal approaching, Changkyun returned a smile and a nod when he got closer to him, having recognized him as Hoshi, whom he knew fairly well, going the opposite direction.

 

Hoshi’s clan were hosting a party to celebrate their second year at Solar in just a few weeks, like the X-Clan had done a while ago, and everyone was looking forward to it. Parties were the main source of entertainment and since so many groups had joined at this point, there was a lot to look forward to – especially in the summer months when, for some reason, most clans had joined.

 

Changkyun kept walking until he reached one of the openings leading inwards to the center of Solar, entering the crater itself. Striding downhills into the remarkably thriving greenery of the haven, he passed underneath some large trees and dark bushes to a spot near a small stream, flowing lazily through the entire crater. Settling against one of the young trees with his legs drawn up he looked out over the extraordinary landscape and enjoyed the stillness and beauty. Although he loved his clan to death and beyond, he was a bit introverted and needed some time for himself from time to time, just to reload his batteries. After a while he brought up his arms to rest on his knees and closed his eyes, letting his mind wander.

 

It was strange how one could get used to things that would have seemed unnatural a couple of years ago that now seemed completely normal – living away from society, in the middle of the woods, away from a lot of modern technology and so on.

 

One thing in particular had become rather distinct for the inhabitants of the haven – after a few years, the fashion in Solar had turned a bit, hm, experimental? Bright hair colors could be seen left and right and clothes would sometimes be downright strange. Jiyong was a notorious fashionista, who everyone looked up to, and largely followed his trends. Not that Changkyun complained; it had in a way a sort of uniting feel to it, maybe in the same way wearing matching uniforms did for sports teams.

 

You somehow also got used to the horrible things, Changkyun noticed; like having the thought of fighting for your survival practically every day in the back of your head, not really existing to the rest of the society and on occasion, even having to go as far as taking lives.

 

 _No. As a second thought, I don’t think I could ever get used to that part. How could one_ really _get used to killing? Do soldiers ever? Do they feel like their actions are justified? They just,_ do it _? Can you train yourself for something like that?_

 

He shook his head, it was too damn early in the day for being this philosophical.

 

Like many others in Solar, Changkyun separated himself from the killings he’d had to do, putting the deeds in the smallest box of his mind, locking it and throwing the key away, and instead tried to distract himself with the ordinary daily life. For the most part it worked, but he would sometimes find himself, when he had his rare alone time, mulling his actions over, thinking about what he’d done; often trying to rationalize it as self-defense and survival for himself and his older brothers.

 

For others it worked differently. Wonho would occasionally disappear for some time; sometimes just an hour and sometimes a whole evening, not telling anyone where he was going. But later, he would return with red, puffy eyes with a hunch to his shoulders and a downcast gaze craving all the physical contact the members could offer him, no one asking any questions – he obviously didn’t want anyone to see his lowest moments, considering as he chose to vanish during those times. They didn’t know any better than to leave him alone when he went away and then provide comfort when he returned and needed it.

 

Changkyun could have sworn he’d caught him during one of these times – when he’d one time woken up at some ungodly hour of the night, craving a glass of water, and heard the elders muffled crying coming from within his room. Thanks to his inhuman audible range the youngest could hear a few soft _“I’m sorry’s”_ be whispered – most likely apologies to his enemies which lives had been taken by his powers. After a minute of debate, Changkyun had slunk away from the door, taking his glass of water with him having decided to leave Wonho alone. If anyone else had caught Wonho during his nightly episode, no one commented on it.

 

A loud yell startled him from his deep thoughts, coming from across the field, where he could spy most of the members from the EXO clan.

 

“FOR FUCKS SAKE KIM JONGDAE!”

 

_That ought to be Suho. Huh, he used his real full name. He must’ve thoroughly pissed him off this time._

The brown haired man was sounding every bit as an exasperated mother a male leader of twelve possibly could.

 

Most Ethereals on patrol used a code name of sorts, to further hide their identity from the Warden. Some had stuck as nicknames, such as Shownu, Wonho and Suho. Changkyun had split his last name with a period, creating “I.M”, although he was never called this outside of missions.

 

Squinting his eyes through the sunlight he could see the leader’s arm smoking slightly through a hole in his sleeve and Chen rolling on the grass laughing, apparently having sent a cheery greeting in the form of an electric shock to the water elemental.

 

“I’ll drown you in your sleep!”

 

Shielding his eyes with his hand, he chuckled and continued to watch the spectacle from beneath his tree – Suho was now chasing Chen, dragging a floating orb of water above his head as a threat.

 

A hand clasped onto his right shoulder and Changkyun’s stomach once again did that weird flip-flop as it had the previous night, but he didn’t bother looking up as he already knew who it was.

 

“Didn’t I scare you, Changkyunnie?” Wonho’s voice rumbled from above.

 

“Nope. One, I knew you were coming, two, I’m not easily scared,” he said, still not averting his gaze from the entertaining chase. “Why is everyone trying to scare me these days,” he mumbled, more to himself than to the elder. “You should target Jooheon, he gets scared by even the mention ghosts. In the middle of the day,” he said, slightly pouting, putting emphasis on his last words.

 

“Yeah, I know, but I can’t; he’s busy with Jackson,” Wonho said, fake-annoyance lacing his words.

 

He sat down next to the youngest, looking out over the crater, eyes eventually fixing on the on-going hunt across from the pair. Somehow, Suho had dropped some of his water over Kyungsoo, who now had murder in his eyes and water dripping down his face, chasing after the leader – thankfully unarmed it seemed though.

 

“Where did you dump Hyungwon?” Changkyun asked after a moment of silence, suddenly remembering that they had departed the apartment as a pair.

 

“Oh, he found some pretty girl from WJSN to flirt with, Bona I think, after we had met with some of the dudes of Ikon. I left him to embarrass himself; he does it excellently without my help,” Wonho smiled.

 

“Ah, I see, I was wondering where you two were going.”

 

“Awww, were you lonely, Kkukkungie?” Wonho mockingly asked, slinging a heavy arm around his shoulders, pulling him into a side-hug of sorts.

 

_Again with the skinship, huh._

 

He noticed it fleetingly, but didn’t really find it in himself to care much for it as it was warm and comforting; he liked skinship as much as Wonho did, only he was bad at initiating it, not really knowing how to, and leaned into it just a bit to reciprocate the elder’s action.

 

Whatever response Changkyun was going to give was interrupted as figure with dark hair approached them, hands deep down in his hoodie pockets. When he neared their spot, Changkyun recognized him as Yoongi, a grumpy guy from a senior group with telekinesis abilities.

 

“Have you seen Jungkook?” was all Yoongi said when he stopped in front of them.

 

“’morning to you too, sunshine,” Wonho replied with a smirk, knowing he was annoying the guy. The two groups were, _thankfully,_ close, otherwise Wonho would have found himself being flung through the air already. “Don’t you have some manners, boy? You should greet your elder before even _thinking_ of being rude,” he added, his smirk now turning into a grin.

 

“You’re 8 days older than me. I’m as likely to call you hyung as I am to see fish flying,” he deadpanned. “Now, have you seen my idiot?” he asked again, irritation levels raised.

 

Wonho cooed at his words, not answering his question, and Changkyun could see that the hydrokinetic was now really about to be thrown across the crater by the telekinetic, seeing as an eyebrow started to twitch on the man standing before them.

 

_He probably just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning._

Changkyun quickly diverted his attention from Wonho by giving him the answer that, _no, they hadn’t seen Jungkook._

 

“Thank you, Changkyun. It’s nice to know there are _some_ normally functioning people in this place,” he exasperatedly sighed. “Don’t take after your hyungs, Changkyun. Please grow up and stay polite and cute, okay?” he said in a feigned lecturing tone, raising his eyebrows.

 

Changkyun grinned up at him saying “I will, hyung,” and felt Wonho’s arm, ever so slightly, tightening around his shoulders.

 

“Yeah, yeah, we get it. We are horrible and he’s cute, now stop bothering us and go and find your boyfriend, shoo shoo,” smiling tightly while trying to wave Yoongi away with his free arm, almost sounding irritated for real.

 

Changkyun raised an eyebrow at this and glanced towards his elder. Wonho’s behavior felt very much uncalled for; Yoongi had only been joking and Changkyun had never seen his elder behave like this before, sure he had a temper, but getting vexed over light banter and teasing? Never.

 

The telekinetic himself mimicked Changkyun’s expression for some moments before softening his face, a small smile now tugging at his lips.

 

“Alright, alright,” holding his hands up in mock-defeat, “I’ll leave you two alone, don’t worry Wonho,” now it was his time to smirk, obviously trying to rile the water elemental up. But before the lilac haired man could fire himself up further, Changkyun quickly interfered by changing the subject.

 

“Hyung, I gotta ask though; since you’re soulmates, can’t you feel where he is?”

 

“No, not really,” he answered with a sigh, turning towards the center of Solar. “It’s not a GPS, although that would have been _real_ handy. It’s more like a gut feeling or notion to your partner’s whereabouts than anything really,” he faced them again and continued; “Why I have problems locating the moron at all though, probably has something to do with his teleportation.”

 

“Oh, so when he’s jumping around it’s like a broken compass? It just kinda’ spins in that weird wobbly way?”

 

Chuckling a bit at Changkyun’s parable Yoongi nodded. “Yeah, something like that.” Changkyun nodded thoughtfully and hummed a bit in response, lowering his gaze a bit, apparently now lost in thought. Seeing this as his chance to leave, the telekinetic quickly said his goodbyes.

 

“Well, it’s been splendid you two, but I gotta go; we’re supposed to be doing the grocery shopping today,” he explained and turned to the right, heading towards the southern entrance while waving lazily over his shoulder, leaving as suddenly as he came. “See ya around.”

 

-

 

The two of them sat for the remainder of their free time at the stream, sunlight streaking through the canopy of leaves, talking about nothing and everything that came to mind, greeting friends as they passed – many wishing them luck, much in the same manor sports teams did; just a friendly greeting before the game starts, as they could judge by their get-ups what they would be doing in some time. The clock eventually neared 11:30 and they finally had to get moving towards the entrance.

 

They were the last to turn up at the tunnel leading out from the crater; the clan had gathered in a half-circle of sorts – even Hyungwon was present, Kihyun hanging off his shoulder.

 

“Sorry to keep you waiting, guys,” Wonho apologized as they reached the rest of the clan.

 

“It’s okay, we’ve been here for only, like, two minutes,” Shownu assured him. Picking his nails a bit – a nervous sort of habit of his – he let his gaze wander over them, asking for the last time; “Everybody’s ready? Everything packed? Nothing forgotten?”

 

Kihyun raised his hand.

 

“Shownu’s dignity,” he deadpanned, mouth curling into a smirk as he leaned forward a bit and revealed; “He lost every round against Minhyuk when they played together.”

 

The leader answered by making a disagreeing grunt and flicked whatever he’d found under his nails at Kihyun.

 

“I’ll take it as a ‘no’, then. Let’s go!”

 

-

 

They walked on a small trail through a dense forest for a good 10 minutes, the green leaves gradually turning into pine needles as tall firs and pine trees rose above their heads. Minhyuk happily chattered away with Jooheon about the game he’d played earlier with Shownu, and the soon reached the “border” of Solar’s self-proclaimed territory where they greeted a group of girls still on guard duty. They briefly talked to the four women, known as Sistar, as they were close friends with them, especially Shownu and Jooheon who had known them a bit before joining Solar.

 

Smaller groups were more often on guard duty since it was hard to patrol the large area with few people, unless they had abilities to ease the task with, such as telepathy, flying etc. Clans with young members also got guard duty as no one wanted to send kids into possible battle, as the goal of patrolling was to intercept any Warden units to give the sheen of Solar wanting to protect something in that forest.

 

They headed for the black van parked on the side of an old and forgotten gravel road, originally used for hauling timber on, bypassing a timeworn truck with rust covering its edges and the vacant spot where a small four-seater in an ugly shade of matted beige should be parked – probably taken by Yoongi and Jungkook.

 

Shownu got in on the driver’s seat, put the key in the ignition and turned it, waiting for the rest of the group to get in. Once seated, _and buckled up thank you Kihyun,_ he pulled out on the road and started the 20 minute drive around town to reach the forest located to the south of it.

 

Changkyun spent most of his time looking out the window with his mind going blank – they had done this trip so many times now he could probably draw it from memory. Jooheon and Minhyuk’s ongoing conversation in the back about video games filled the otherwise silent car, Kihyun talking in a low voice to Shownu from beside him in the passenger seat, said man only humming and giving short answers in response to show that he was listening. Hyungwon had – unsurprisingly – decked in the right back seat after three minutes of driving – sleeping through all the bumps and potholes in the downtrodden road, head lolling left and right.

 

Wonho, on Changkyun’s right, mirrored the youngest behavior, looking deeply lost in his own world of thoughts and Changkyun took the opportunity to study his features. Although the entire clan had extremely good looks, in fact, every Ethereal he’d ever met was good-looking, Wonho’s features had something special about them. He couldn’t quite put his finger on _what_ exactly intrigued him so much about them – maybe it was the corners of his mouth that curved like a cat’s when he smiled, or maybe the round chin combined with his sharp jawline, which became so apparent whenever he tilted his head backwards, or _maybe_ it was his warm, dark brown eyes that would look back at you, and _truly_ see you, which also would become tiny slits when his smile turned so big his gums peeked out. Maybe it was his naturally rosy lips combined with his pale, smooth ski-

 

He halted his train-wreck of thoughts.

 

_This can’t be healthy._

 

He sighed mentally and quickly turned back to his window and watched as the forest scenery eventually turned into an actual road, and after a few more minutes the small city was visible from the car’s windows, two or three grey skyscrapers shooting up from the ground at the center of it, before Shownu turned right – away from any big roads – heading for the southern forest area.

 

Well into the more southern region of the forest, situated on some boulders or leaning against trees, a large group of boys met them – already having finished their patrol shift. The clan was still probably the youngest of Solar, adding more and more clan members as time went by. They looked worn out and tired from the lack of sleep and all the moving around, one even seemingly asleep against someone else’s shoulder, but their faces brightened at the sight of the van entering the area, colorful shocks of hair lifting to watch it roll in. They had pulled their hoods off, though most still wore their masks covering their mouths, most probably to escape some of the rising heat the sun provided. Shownu pulled up before the clan and killed the engine, quickly getting out to greet them, the strong scent of damp mulch and moss hitting his keen sense of smell. A tall, lanky boy with light pink hair stood up from the boulder he had rested on and pulled down his mask, revealing a pretty face and a sharp jaw.

 

“Hello boys,” Shownu said, nodding at them with a small smile, “Taeyong,” he pulled his attention to the leader of the group and grasped his hand and then pulled him into a half hug of sorts, the rest of the X-Clan piling out of the van and stretching a bit, simultaneously unloading their bags while doing so.

 

“Shownu hyung,” he greeted with a deep voice and a friendly grin while clasping the earth elemental’s hand.

 

Releasing the hand Shownu spoke again. “I’m sorry if we kept you waiting, I don’t really know what time it is,” he admitted sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck.

 

“It’s fine hyung, I think it’s just five min past 12. We got here a bit early too, I think,” Taeyong answered, sensing the elder’s discomfort. The two groups weren’t particularly close, and Shownu always felt somewhat awkward meeting unfamiliar people – they had only introduced themselves briefly some time ago and usually had no further interactions than everyday greetings in the hallways. The elder smiled gratefully at him and dropped his hand from his neck.

 

“How was it?” He inquired, raising an eyebrow in question.

 

“Quiet,” Taeyong answered, turning back briefly to look at his clan. “Nothing to report really; no encounters, no patrols, no sightings, no nothing. It was a calm round,” he looked back to Shownu. “It’s been quiet for a couple of days, I’ve heard,” he said in a low voice, the unsaid implication hanging in the air.

 

The Warden didn’t send out patrols and search parties each day and night, instead planning ahead when they would depart on an operation, as their directors at the W.C.H.W called it. From time to time Solar would try to infiltrate their HQ for extra information to gain some leverage, giving the clans some sort of heads up, for example; which direction, how many men would be sent out or which time of the day, or night, they would head out. The intervals between operations could were uneven; sometimes a few days, a week or even two, though rarely more.

 

Shownu answered with a low hum and then sighed. “Yeah, we’ll be extra careful. Thank you,” he gave another small smile and got one in return. “The key is in the van, by the way,” he said awkwardly.

 

“Got it, hyung,” he replied in an amicable tone and then turned to his group and nodded once, setting them into movement.

 

“I don’t really know if you’ll all fit in it, though, now that I think about it. Should have brought an extra car. Sorry,” he chuckled while watching the many members of the other clan move about, sluggish after having been inactive for some time.

 

“It’s fine, hyung!” one of them called, having heard what Shownu had said. The leader recognized him as Johnny, one of the few people from the clan he knew a bit better. “This one will fit in the trunk, no worries!” he cheerily exclaimed, slinging a thin boy over his shoulder who most probably had been asleep – judging by his confused face at suddenly finding himself upside down. The rest of the boys laughed as he dangled while Johnny walked to the back of the vehicle.

 

At this point Shownu’s own clan had joined up behind him, bags in hands and hoods pulled up.

 

“I’ll see you later, hyung. Bye!” Taeyong cheerily waved, making his way towards the car.

 

-

 

They watched the overcrowded van drive away, leaving the forest quiet, save for the chirping of birds and the rustling of leaves. The clan gathered on the rocks and geared up while Shownu split them up in pairs with some help from Wonho.

 

“Okay, we have H.One and Honey, I.M and Ki and then Wonho with Min,” he said looking around at, gauging any reactions. “And I’ll be on my own. Alright?” Shownu asked, switching to their aliases, receiving some “yeah” and hums as replies.

 

They then played a quick rock-paper-scissor to determine who would patrol the furthest route; the one to the northeast. The lot finally landed on Hyungwon and Jooheon after the electric elemental had lost tragically to Minhyuk, who probably wouldn’t shut up about it until the next week. After them followed Changkyun and Kihyun, then Shownu and lastly Wonho and Minhyuk, who’d won the entire thing.

 

It would be impossible to cover all of the area, all of the time, but they patrolled with space between themselves and their partner – just enough so that they’d cover as much ground as possible but would still notice if something occurred to their team member.

 

They got down from the moss covered rocks after the quick meeting, pulling their masks up and gathered in a ring, putting their hands in the middle of the circle and doing a quick shout for encouragement. They then got into their pairs before quickly shooting off into the bushes in their respective directions, running to make up for some of the time they’d lost.

 

While running alongside Kihyun, Changkyun glanced around one last time at his brothers’ backs and hooded faces, swiftly disappearing into the underbrush, hoping nothing would go wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI, my bestie promised me to beta read my fic if I included Sugakookie, (she still hasn't -,- lol ) but I had actually forgotten about bts so I had to just throw them in somewhere lol sorry if that was random hehe
> 
> also, sorry if the pace has been a bit slow, there'll be some action in the next chapter


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is late as hell ughh  
> I was originally supposed to post the next chapter as well as I'd written them as a single chapter from the beginning, but I realized that it had become a monster chapter with 8.5k words(as of now) sooooo.. I split 'em instead. sowwy.
> 
> (the 2nd part is on its way, almost finished)

They had been sprinting for a good 15 minutes through the dense forest to reach their destination – a few hundred meters behind the line of trees they’d be walking for the next 12 hours. Changkyun stopped as he saw the sunlight grow brighter ahead of him, Kihyun coming up next to him, his breath a bit heavy – though not nearly enough, considering the distance they had covered, Changkyun sulkily noted with his own breath puffing out more labored than the healer’s. Still, he was better off than what a human would have been, his Ethereal heritage showing. This run, however, was a breeze compared to the one he’d had with Shownu the previous morning; when he’d been running for over _an hour_ in full sprint  – the leader not wanting to stop, much to Changkyun’s despair.

 

“Left or right?” Kihyun spoke after a moment, having gathered his breath, still looking ahead at the break of trees.

 

“I can take the right, but it really doesn’t matter much,” Changkyun answered with a shrug, turning to look at his partner.

 

“Yeah, same for me, so I’ll take the left and save us the trouble having to decide,” Kihyun answered and Changkyun could see his small smile by looking at his eyes.

 

“Keep your walkie’ close I.M, and be careful of the bears,” he jested, both being fully aware of the fact that there were no bears for miles, but Changkyun gave a low chuckle and nodded his head.

 

“I will Ki, see ya’,” he said, knowing they both had to get going, as they had been a bit late in arriving at the site.

 

“Yeah, see you,” he replied and turned to leave, stalking away through the bushes. By choosing the left Kihyun needed to walk a bit in that direction before turning around and following Changkyun’s trail, keeping some 5 or 6 hundred meters between them. Once Changkyun met his furthest point he would turn around, and when Kihyun heard his footsteps getting closer instead of keeping at the same distance he too would turn, and if he didn’t; one or the other would ultimately contact the other via the walkie-talkie. The patrols overlapped at the ends so that no area was completely left alone for too long.

 

-

 

The first hours went by smoothly, Changkyun enjoyed the weather and the still tranquility of the woods, although he eventually started to sweat thanks to the sun beating down hard on the ground, making the air inside the forest humid and his clothes damp. He was in a way grateful to be having some time alone with his thoughts, just letting his mind wander **.**

 

He drank some of his water while he walked and then brought out his first protein bar to munch on, having heard Kihyun rustle with the wrapping some time ago.

 

A few more hours passed and by that time it had started to darken, a cloud cover pulled in, helping in dulling the colors further together with the swiftly setting sun. It was at this time he felt the familiar dreariness of walking back and forth setting in, the lively birdsongs of the day turning into low hoots and just the sounds of rustling leaves further encouraging the monotone nature of the walk.

 

Had he not had his enhanced vision, he would’ve soon had trouble seeing where to put his feet as the clouds blocked out any hopes of moonlight from breaking through to the forest floor. He took the last swig of his second water bottle and put it back into the side compartment, trudging quietly on the soft soil.

 

_Thank god we don’t have to do this too often._

 

He remembered his first time patrolling – nerves taut like a bowstring, jumping at every sound the forest made, unlike now when it almost, literally, was a pleasant walk in the park. Nothing had happened though, because since they were a new group, they were given a shift where it was practically guaranteed nothing would actually happen, to make them ease into the idea of patrolling. Changkyun, however, recalled facing other problems than the Warden popping up, like his feet for example, which had started hurting around 4 hours into it; unused to walking constantly for such a long period of time. He also had memories, or lack of them more like it, of being so tired at the end of it that he didn’t even remember how he got back to Solar and into his bed at all.

 

Even though he was quite used to the patrolling by now, he was starting to feel tired and the familiar ache in his feet was making itself known, but his inner clock told him with certainty that the time had at least passed 21:00 by now.

 

_Hopefully closer to 22:00, though._

He wistfully hoped, wanting the shift to end as quickly as possible so he could go home and sleep. He didn’t know the exact time though, as he’d regretfully enough forgotten his watch at the dorm.

He was now nearing his turning point as he now could make out the familiar shape of a crooked tree, seemingly leaning on a boulder lying next to it, curling weirdly around it.

 

As he closed in on the tree, a noise that didn’t quite mingle with the usual nocturnal sounds of the forest cut through the otherwise fairly still night, coming from somewhere ahead of him. It quickly grew in strength, indicating that something was approaching, and _fast_.

 

Changkyun stopped dead in his tracks between two bushes, listening, and broadening his stance. His muscles tensed as he raised his arms slightly to be prepared for whatever it was that was advancing – not really able to do much more than to wait and brace. The sound was a low whirring, going up and down in pitch, like an angry wasp, only louder in volume. He quickly gathered shadows around himself, trying to at least have the element of surprise on his side – had it not already noticed him, of course.

 

He contemplated contacting Kihyun, but was afraid of alerting whatever it was that was causing the buzzing. The healer had probably heard that he had stopped and would soon undoubtedly hear the whirring too, as it was quite loud.

 

For a few moments it seemed like the forest was holding its breath, and Changkyun could hear his own heartbeat, slowly picking up the pace as the humming grew even louder. He wondered briefly if it had passed Hyungwon and Jooheon, and if it had done so unnoticed, as it came from their general direction.

 

It couldn’t be farther than fifty meters now.

 

He still couldn’t make anything out from the darkness in front of him.

 

Thirty meters away.

 

He felt his breath grow shorter in anticipation. Was it heading towards him? Or would it pass by? He clenched his fists.

 

Twenty now.

 

He sucked in a breath when he discovered that the noise came from slightly above him, and not ground level.

 

_Is it flying? That will make things harder._

He swiftly picked up a stone lying on the ground, as his shadows couldn’t reach up into the air. Just as he stood up again, the whirring zipped past him on a few meters to the right.

 

_Shit._

He had been able to catch sight of a dim red light that had fortunately given enough sheen for him to make out the silhouette of a drone – with the letters of “ _W.C.H.W”_ in bold white branded on its side. Eyes widening at the sight, he instantaneously spun and darted after the machine, picking up the pace as much as he could while dodging trees and rocks, awkwardly reaching behind himself to grab his walkie-talkie where it was fastened at the belt. Jumping over a prickly bush he brought the walkie-talkie up to his mouth, trying to form a coherent sentence between breaths. The drone was no doubt recording whatever its camera captured, and at the risk that it might also be carrying a microphone, Changkyun resorted to their codenames when he contacted Kihyun.

 

“Ki! Ki! Do you read?!” he panted out between gulps of air, his voice taking on a somewhat desperate note at the end. He didn’t need to wait for more than a second to receive a response; Kihyun’s worried voice immediately crackling through the walkie-talkie after he had called for him – the elder being on the alert.

 

“I read you, I.M, what’s going on? I heard a noise and now I can hear you running!” his voice picked up in alarm hearing the youngest footsteps disappear further and further away from its original trail and into the dark woods.

 

“A drone!” he shouted into the mouthpiece. “I’m following it but it’s fast!” almost cutting of the last word while jumping over a large rock before speaking again; “Ki, it’s heading into the forest!”

 

Kihyun cursed under his breath and was already moving before Changkyun had finished his sentence. He understood what had gotten the youngest so anxious – if the drone got too far into the forest, their “secret hideout” would be discovered as non-existent and their long-running decoy plan would foil.

 

“Keep following, I’m coming!” he didn’t waste his breath on saying anything else to distract Changkyun, instead pressing the button to contact Hyungwon as he would be the next closest person to their position.

 

-

 

Changkyun tore through the underbrush, narrowly sidestepping a tree to his left and vaulting over a decaying log, trying to keep up with the whirring quadcopter. He had determined on his first minute of chase that they definitely were using a night vision camera and that the person steering the thing was _extremely_ skilled, as he himself had almost run into a couple of trees by now.

 

_Are drones always this fast?_

He doubtfully wondered, ducking for yet another tree and tightening his clutch around the only weapon he had at his disposal – a rock. He knew he had to at least attempt to knock the metal bird out of the sky as he couldn’t let it much further into the forest; already having allowed it too far by letting it slip past the line of patrol. He planned on throwing it soon, just needed a free line of sight first – with no damned trees in the way.

 

With his mind distracted, it slipped his notice that the small drop he currently was in midair of – having jumped down from a large boulder – ended in a thicket of bushes with thorns. He landed, branches giving into his sudden weight, barbs tearing hotly at his skin and clothes and he had to bite down on his lip _hard_ not to yell out at the fierce pricking from the thousands of thorns now raking across his body. Tears of frustration, and from the irritatingly stinging pain, blurred his vision while he tried to rip his coat and sleeves free. He almost ripped both of them off in the process before he was able to free himself from the thicket with a final yank.

 

He tried making up for the distance he had lost by pressing his leg even further, now pumped with newfound adrenaline, probably never having run this fast in his life, the ache in his feet and the tiredness in his limbs long forgotten.

 

_Please, just let me get this damn thing; I don’t want fail at something as simple as chasing a fucking drone._

 

He thought, anxiety rising with each step he took.

 

-

 

Wonho glanced down at his digital clock; 22:34.

 

_One hour and 25 minutes left._

 

He smiled slightly, the encouraging thought of returning home soon filling his mind. He was so damn _hungry_ ; a few protein bars wasn’t enough to sustain his body _and_ all his hard-won muscles, needing more nutrition to keep it fit and strong. He was craving ramen like never before – just like the last time the clan had patrolled, and the time before that one and so on. He never knew why, but he always longed for a hot bowl of noodles whenever they had gone on a mission and he smiled at the thought of his reward waiting at home.

 

An instant feeling of fretfulness and frustration suddenly washed over him, seemingly from out of nowhere, almost knocking the breath from his lungs by its swiftness. He furrowed his brow in bewilderment since he could still feel the lingering content and calmness at the thought of finishing up the patrol inside himself, though the feeling of anxiety pressed up against him, coming from both inside and outside his body like an uncomfortable hug. Stranger still; as more seconds passed, the more he got accustomed to it and the more he noticed he could distinctly separate his own emotions, which now was majorly confusion and uncertainty, from the growing frustration pushing at him, frown deepening at the strange sensation.

 

Then, over the course of mere moments, it suddenly subsided, only lingering unsettlingly in his gut and leaving him even more puzzled than before, but also with worry growing.

 

_Something’s happened. Something’s definitely happened._

 

The thought sent a shiver down his spine and out through his fingertips, leaving him with a feeling of ominousness spreading throughout his body, making him restless and fidgety. What should he do? Could he contact anyone based on just a feeling he had? Based on just that? A bad feeling? Thumbing his walkie-talkie, he started walking again, having not realized that he’d stopped, and startled when the device crackled to life with Kihyun’s voice calling him.

 

“Wonho! A quick update!” Kihyun’s bitter voice panted out, slightly garbled thanks to the gadget’s old age. “Me and I.M are following a drone, Hyungwon is on his way too to help us. He and Jooheon have already taken down one, there could be more so be on the look-out, alright?”

 

“Got it Ki. Are you guys okay?” the ever present protective side of him showing, especially after the worrying experience he’d just had a few moments ago.

 

“Yeah, we’re fine. But worry about your own situation for now, alright?” Kihyun tried to disperse his worry, though Wonho wasn’t quite convinced with the swift brush off he’d received. But he understood that the remaining members on patrol should be even more alert now because of the new situation they faced – their position had become remarkably more vulnerable now, thanks to the gap the drones had ripped in their line.

 

“Alright,” he finally said, exhaling the word. “I’ll inform the rest of the clan, if you haven’t already done that, and keep us updated, okay?” he spoke into the walkie-talkie while ducking under a low hanging branch.

 

“Will do hyung,” came the short reply before the device went dead. Wonho took that as his cue and informed the leader and his boyfriend of the current happenings, and after a quick debate, he also contacted the second youngest just to be on the safe side.

 

-

 

Kihyun didn’t doubt that Wonho would quickly come up with a rearrangement in the positions of the remaining patrollers while he, Changkyun and Hyungwon gave chase. Speaking of the others, he was beginning to close up on at least one of them as he could hear the buzzing of the flying machine a lot clearer now. It was apparently not heading straight into the forest, instead coming from an angle which meant it would be easier for Kihyun to catch up, but a lot harder for Hyungwon. The tall man was fast, thankfully, even for an Ethereal, but he would have trouble getting there in time to be of help if the pace continued in this mad tempo.

 

Suddenly he saw movement to his front left, and a flash of red between tree trunks and changed his course to meet the thing.

 

“I.M!” he called, knowing the umbrakinetic boy soon would follow in its wake.

 

“Ki!” a dark voice answered him, further to his left.

 

“H.One is on his way, but we need to slow it down somehow ‘til then!” he answered, still not able to discern the youngest, but hearing him rushing through bushes and breaking branches under his feet. Kihyun was now approximately 20 meters from the drone and quickly decided that for now he would keep an even space from it until Changkyun appeared.

 

“Are you using your powers? I can’t see you!” he asked between breaths, already starting to feel sweaty and tired, most likely due to the hours of patrolling and now the sudden sprint – he wondered how Changkyun was faring, having been following the thing for a couple of minutes now in addition to utilizing his abilities.

 

The youngest of the clan’s figure made itself known a bit further to his left, dark clothes blending in with the blackened forest even if he had dropped his shadow cloak.

 

“I have a rock,” Changkyun panted out, when they were more or less running side by side. Had it been another situation, Kihyun would have laughed – “ _I have a rock,”_ wasn’t really what he had expected to hear, but he understood what the younger meant to do with it. He smiled a bit underneath his mask nonetheless and answered him.

 

“Okay Hawkeye, show me what you got,” and Changkyun could hear the slight playfulness in his voice, _and_ Kihyun’s attempt at trying to lighten the mood, which in all honesty was needed – the tiny cuts stung, especially the one on his cheek and the one on the back of his hand, and his mind had been in a negative spiral of self-doubting thoughts ever since the pursuit had started.

 

“I will, just gimme a clearing of trees and that thing is going down,” Changkyun answered, with more conviction than what he actually possessed. Conveniently enough, after another 100 meters or so, the trees appeared to thin out, not exactly creating an open space but Changkyun decided that this was the best he was going to get.

 

The drone flew as straight as it possibly could it seemed – keeping a generally straight course between the tree trunks and branches, it’s goal clear; the center of the forest. As they neared the glade-like area the steady drip-drop of cold rain started falling as the dark clouds began emptying themselves off their heavy load, making Changkyun curse under his breath.

 

_Is the universe against us?_

 

He sucked in a lungful of air and raised his arm to take aim nonetheless. Between two trees it became framed almost perfectly and Changkyun took it as that as the best chance he was going to get. He threw his make-do weapon with as much force as he could, flinging raindrops from his coat and skidding to a stop on the now wet leaves covering the ground. The rock whizzed through the air and the youngest realized with despair that his aim had been thrown off, mostly likely by the slippery terrain or the pouring rain obscuring his vision. It hit the side of the device, not causing any real harm but for it to wobble a bit in the air.

 

“Shit!” Changkyun swore loudly this time, his brow etching into a deep frown, and began running again.

 

_Well fucking done, Im Changkyun. Apparently, you can’t even throw rocks correctly._

 

Luckily however, the person flying the thing must’ve been thrown off more than the drone itself had, as it veered off course, probably due to overcompensating for the sudden swaying the machine had done, and then into a tree. He heard Kihyun give a cheer at this and watched as the drone spun in the air, almost hitting another tree, swerving downwards a bit – trying to get into balance again. It dipped left and right, narrowly avoiding branches and some tall bushes, before finally gaining some sort of horizontality and then stopped midair, the propellers seeming unharmed despite the tree crash.

 

“Shit,” he swore again and finally came to a halt besides Kihyun who was standing almost beneath it. He gnawed on his lower lip, wincing as the motion pulled on the scratches on his face while feeling the cold rain slowly soaking him, weighing his options, clenching his fists in frustration.

 

_Another stone? Will it help? It’s sturdier than what it looks._

 

He sighed internally.

 

_Stupid, stupid! Why couldn’t you just had hit the damn thing properly?!_

 

Before he could berate himself further, another noise could be heard beside the steady flow of the rain and the infernal whizzing from the drone’s propellers. He whipped around, trying to confirm his guess of what the source was and was proven correct when the slender form of Hyungwon appeared between the bushes, keeping an insane speed by the help of his weight-controlling abilities. He was nearing them quickly, but the drone took off once more, obviously done assessing the damage taken by the hit and Changkyun pushed his tired legs into a run for the nth time that evening, Kihyun ahead of him already.

 

“Pull it down! Pull it down!” Kihyun roared at Hyungwon, but didn’t need to repeat himself a third time, as the tall man raised his arm to do exactly that when he dashed pass Changkyun, leaving deep footprints in the muddy ground. The youngest let out a shaky breath of relief and slowed his pace when Hyungwon finally pulled and crashed the drone to the ground. The impact of it casued a loud noise, with pieces of metal and plastic flying to accompany it.

 

Its red light flickered once and twice before dying completely. It became quiet for a few moments, save for the steady pitter-patter of rain and their labored breaths, as the three of them walked towards the crash site. Hyungwon reached it first and squatted down for a closer look.

 

“Is it dead?” Kihyun inquired, coming up to stand beside him. “No. Almost though,” Hyungwon’s husky voice answered, face covered from Changkyun’s viewpoint. The lanky man took a step back and lifted his right leg above the drone and brought it down, bending the metal under his heavy boot.

 

It became quiet again. Everyone stood still in the rain, looking at the downed drone and catching their breaths. Kihyun, _of course_ , was the first to take the initiative. “I’ll inform the rest of the clan that it’s been taken down,” he said in a low voice, tiredness now obvious. He harshly dragged the back of his hand under his nose and sniffled, a habit of his, vainly trying to wipe away rain or sweat though the fabric of the mask already had done the job for him. He let the silence hang in the air a bit further before he spoke again. “We should get back to our posts, we have around one hour and fifteen minutes left of the shift,” his watch showing 22:46.

 

The two younger men nodded and Changkyun gave a low hum in agreement. The mood somehow heavy, despite their success. Changkyun guessed that the same thing ran through their minds as well – _how would this affect them in the long run?_

 

If something went to shit, it would be Changkyun’s fault.

 

“Are you two okay?” Kihyun asked, raising his gaze from the drone and his eyebrows in question.

 

Having had enough humiliation for the night he nodded again, ignoring the thousand little cuts around his body becoming more prominent as the adrenaline faded and the coldness of the rain set in. His conscious was weighed down by the guilt of having let the drone so far – a few more minutes and they would be where the usual shift between groups took place, and _that_ would have been too damn far. He also knew that the mother hen wouldn’t stop fussing once he’d discovered the little wounds and they didn’t really have that kind of time on their hands at the moment.

 

_I’ll take care of them later._

 

Hyungwon also confirmed that he was okay, though Kihyun asked again since he and Jooheon had already confronted a drone prior to this one. He told the healer that Jooheon had fried it quite quickly and that nothing had happened besides that. At that, Changkyun felt his mood sour even more. He felt extremely bitter and disappointed in himself that he couldn’t deal with the problem earlier on, instead having to chase it halfway through the forest with a rock in hand only to fucking miss. He shoved his hands into his jacket’s pockets, not raising his head when Kihyun shooed them off to their original positions so he could take care of the communication with the others, too caught up in his own thoughts. His habit of “stress cleaning” was making an appearance; even if Kihyun trusted the other members of the clan, when he was stressing over something, or was in a general stressful situation or mindset, he would rather have it done by himself so he could keep some element of control for the sake of his mind.

 

Changkyun hummed in confirmation and quickly started to head back towards his patrolling path – knowing that the longer he stayed the more likely he was going to be found out by Kihyun _or_ Hyungwon.

 

-

 

Changkyun had spent the last hour of patrol mulling over his mistakes and what he should’ve done to prevent them.

 

 _I should definitely been able to have thrown the rock earlier; what was I waiting for? And I need to focus harder. I_ know _I would’ve heard the drone earlier if I had been concentrated. And I wouldn’t have fallen into fucking bush either._

He kicked a branch out of his way, the scrapes dully burning in a pulsating way in time with each step he took – an ever-present reprimand – and a part of him was wondering what kind of thorny bush from hell it had been for it to hurt this much – especially since he wasn’t even human. He’d noticed that the thorns had actually been quite large when he’d plucked some from his coat, still stuck from the fall. It had stopped raining now at least, leaving the forest cold, wet and empty from any previously lingering daytime heat.

 

Even though he’d now spent several years with his brothers he could never shake the feeling of being a surplus, not totally. His members had helped him tremendously with seeing his own self-worth throughout the years, but he sometimes felt like he couldn’t really do anything to contribute to the clan or even Solar – his powers weren’t useful in any way; black holes just tearing everything down unlike the rest of the group’s abilities that actually could help provide. His cloaks weren’t half as effective as actual invisibility since they only worked in the dark, plus his abysses were volatile and hard to maneuver, even now. Today he did undoubtedly have _significantly_ better control now than a few years ago thanks to Jooheon – the older having an unruly element himself.

 

Thankfully, or irritatingly enough for Changkyun, his brothers were attentive and could often, though not always, sense within a day or two that Changkyun had gotten into one of his “moods” – even if he tried to hide it – since he would become quiet and pull away more from the rest than what he usually would. Once discovered, they proceeded with quietly approaching him and would then fuss, talk, coddle and in general not leave him alone until he got his head out of it. They were quick to assure him that he was valuable, was definitely _not_ a liability and was indeed needed in the clan. _“And don’t you_ dare _believe anything else, Im Changkyun,”_ Minhyuk or Kihyun would often say.

 

His walkie-talkie sparked to life and he picked it up, hearing Kihyun’s voice on the other end. “I noticed you forgot your watch, back at the crash, so I thought I would inform you that we can finally head back,” his voice taking on a more cheery tone at the end, obviously happy to return home.

 

“Oh, thanks Ki. I’m gonna get going then,” he answered, feeling tired but elated that the patrol was over. “Any more sightings?” he asked after a few moments, heading into the forest.

 

“No, nothing other than the two drones,” Kihyun replied and Changkyun honestly didn’t know if he was glad that nothing else had happened.

 

_Does that mean the W.C.H.W already got enough information?_

 

Nonetheless he answered, taking the cheeriness of his voice up a notch just to be sure that Kihyun wouldn’t start asking questions. “Okay, that’s good. I’ll see you at the pick-up point,” he said, hoping Kihyun only thought he was tired.

 

He dragged his tired feet through the forest feeling a new emotion, besides the despondency that was weighing down his mind, gently prodding at him – like a concerned hand on his shoulder or unspoken words from a couple of gentle eyes asking how he was faring. At first, he was feeling a bit put-off at the sensation, in the same way you feel when someone suddenly barges into the bedroom unannounced or gets a tad too close in your personal space. But the more it kept nudging and in a ghostly manner softly enveloping him, the more he clung to it – he needed some comfort he realized. He needed _someone_ right now, it dawning on him that, for once, he didn’t want to be alone in the dark.

 

-

 

A weird feeling was settling once again and Wonho now felt a mix of guilt and a sort of dejection pushing at his chest – leaving him even more uncomfortable and anxious than before. An almost itchy scratching had come over him over an hour ago, making him scratch himself allover more than once, particularly at his hand and cheeks, in attempts to cease the burning achiness. He wanted to chase it away, to comfort and to never feel like this again. Somehow he felt concern and sympathy growing at the sensations – what was the source of these emotions? He knew they weren’t his own – he had raked his brain a long while ago as to why he was feeling like this but ended up blank; there was nothing at the moment that could cause these anxious emotions he was experiencing.

 

He needed to get back to the clearing. With every step he took in that direction the unpleasant feelings grew stronger and his concern was increasing as it became more and more apparent that it was _definitely_ one of the clan members that was the source of this, feeling pretty confident that the new group that would relieve them hadn’t arrived yet.

 

He’d received the go sign from Shownu a few minutes ago, though already having been on his way some moments early from the shift’s end – pushed by his worry and need for reassurance that everything was okay.

 

His brows furrowed in concern and prayed to whatever god that it was nothing serious had happened, his mind flitting to the news of the drones, and lengthened his strides to increase his pace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you’ve ever seen or like, gotten pricked by a blackberry thicket or a wild rose bush, then you know how painful and bloody it can get *shudders*


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, sorry for being MIA, school and other things happened (like plotting and rewriting and A LOT of editing), so this became extremely delayed.
> 
> I think I made this fic WAY more deep (into emotional shit) than I originally planned it to be hehe
> 
> (Also, wHAT THE FUCK. 75 KUDOS?? WHERE DID YALL COME FROM?? THANK YOU SO MUCJFJDGS  
> And thank you, to EVERYONE that has left comments, you're honestly so sweet and encouraging. You really give me so much motivation to write and to develop my writing. Thank you.)
> 
> Uh, and now, enjoy.

Shownu and Minhyuk had already reached the small glade and were currently reclining on the wet boulders, having pulled their hoods off. The younger of the two had his head comfortably snuggled against the elder’s neck junction, shivering a bit from the cold air, even though Shownu had looped an arm around the other, gently carding his fingers through the red hair in an attempt to warm him up. Wonho appeared from the far right, walking through some bushes to join them on the rocks, getting there before Changkyun even got into the clearing.

 

Shownu turned his head and focused on Wonho while he settled down next to him, sitting cross-legged and pulling the hood from his pale hair. They exchanged some words, though Changkyun couldn’t make out the murmured words which were, to boot, muffled by their masks, but he guessed it was inquiries about the patrol. Changkyun came to a stop beneath them, leaning on the wet moss growing on the boulders and closed his eyes. He let out a breath, almost expecting it to create a puff of condensation thanks to how cold the air now was; spring still in the awkward intermediate phase between spring and summer making the days warm and sunny and the nights cold and damp.

 

He felt the lump in his stomach loosen a bit at the feeling of not being alone anymore. After a moment he heard someone moving above him, the soft rustling of clothes disturbing the quietness and then a dull thud before him. He opened his eyes to the sight of Wonho’s own warm ones staring back at him, a crease in his brow and stare intense but gaze unreadable. He was clearly searching the youngest eyes for something.

 

“It smells like blood,” he stated in a low voice, absentmindedly scratching at the back of his right hand, reminding Changkyun of the scrape on his own hand and fought off the urge to do the same as the small wounds had already stopped bleeding a long while ago, instead now feeling a bit itchy. The water elemental had the most sensitive nose in the clan and Changkyun mentally swore at himself for his carelessness – he had forgotten that even though the darkness would cover the sight of the scratches the air wouldn’t conceal the coppery scent since the rain had subsided a while ago. Wonho took a step closer and raised a hand tentatively, grazing the fabric of his sleeve, but not entirely touching him and Changkyun could practically feel the concern rolling off the elder in waves, pushing and pulling at him.

 

“ _You_ smell like blood,” he corrected himself, almost whispering, and Changkyun dropped his intense stare, knowing the secret was out. “Changkyunnie, why do you smell like blood?” his voice rising slightly with his concern. Changkyun heard more rustling from the top of the rocks but didn’t look up to see who it was – wanting to avoid meeting the elder’s gaze, ashamed of admitting his current state.

 

He felt gentle fingers under his chin tilting his head upwards, forcing him to look into Wonho’s worried eyes, the other hand reaching up to pull the hood from his head. Wonho’s eyes diverted from his own to look at his forehead and probably some tiny red lines that had been revealed in the absence of the hood. The water elemental still didn’t say anything when he gently tugged the face mask downwards, watching as Changkyun winced slightly when he passed over the larger cut on his cheek that hadn’t completely closed yet. He heard a soft gasp emit from Wonho when his face was completely uncovered. Changkyun had no idea what he looked like, but he guessed it wasn’t pretty judging by Wonho’s reaction.

 

“Changkyunnie,” he said sympathetically, tenderly brushing his fingers over his battered face and Changkyun now realized how close they were actually standing. He thanked god that it was dark enough to cover the heat spreading over his cheeks, hoping that the elder couldn’t feel the pulse between his fingers rising at the gentle ministrations. “What happened? Why are you bleeding all over?” he asked, now looking into his eyes again. 

 

“It looks like you’ve gotten into a fight with a freaking _bear_ ,” Minhyuk deadpanned from somewhere behind Wonho, revealing himself to Changkyun as the one who had reacted and jumped down at Wonho’s mention of blood. If Wonho had the most sensitive nose in the clan, then Minhyuk had the best eyesight, only maybe Shownu rivaling him.

 

“I-, uh,” he muttered, trying to gather his words. Wonho’s left hand now gently stroked up and down his arm in an encouraging manner, abruptly stopping when running over something hard and small stuck in the sleeve. Plucking it from the fabric he brought the object up to scrutinize it. After a closer inspection of the object he realized it was a thorn; sturdy, in a curved talon-like shape and almost as big as his thumb nail.

 

“I-, nothing. I just fell,” he confessed, also viewing the barb pinched between the elder’s fingertips. Wonho quickly pieced the rest together and now looked the youngest over more carefully, discovering his torn clothes and even more scrapes.

 

“I think it must’ve been one of those wild roses; they have quite large thorns I’ve heard,” he said, throwing it to the side. “I think you did a little more than just _trip,_ ” his voice taking on a firmer tone, demanding an explanation. Changkyun sighed in resignation; he knew the older wouldn’t stop pestering him until he told him the truth. But truth to be told – it was hard for Changkyun to admit his feelings, even now, when he’d actually wanted to seek company out. He didn’t really know why it was so damn hard either. Was it his stubbornness? Embarrassment? Pride?

 

“I was chasing the drone, jumped down from a rock and didn’t see what was below. I had no time so I just,” he gestured vaguely to his ripped clothes. Although the bush wasn’t what was really bothering him, it did make for a good cover for his actual fiasco – letting him have an escape from having to talk about it. Though judging by Wonho’s expression and carefully exanimating eyes he was doing a pretty poor job at it.

“Oh my god, Changkyunnie had a fight with a bush,” Minhyuk barked loudly with laughter, obviously not sensing the tension, finding the youngest situation hilarious.

 

This was something Changkyun had wanted to avoid; the mocking and ridicule from the others. Normally, he would join in on the banter, but at the moment his self-esteem was low enough as it was and Minhyuk laughing at his misery didn’t exactly help in raising it.

 

Probably sensing something of the sort, Wonho cut Minhyuk’s mirth short.

 

“Shut up, Minhyuk. He’s bleeding all over,” he threw over his shoulder in a low voice, tone cold – telling the fire elemental that _now’s not the time._

 

From the corner of his eye he saw Shownu, who now had joined the others on the ground, walk towards his partner, probably to keep him off of Changkyun’s back.

 

Wonho gently clasped the youngest arms, pulling him to stand up straight from the rock and wound one arm lightly around his waist to lead him towards one of the lower boulders to sit down on. He joined him on the mossy stone and began plucking thorns from his coat that Changkyun had missed or hadn’t been able to reach, seeing him trying to conceal the flinches whenever the barbs nicked his skin or were actually removed from it.

 

“It must’ve been one hell of a thicket for you to look like this,” Wonho absentmindedly murmured, mostly to himself by the sound of it. “Wasn’t Kihyun with you?” he wondered, having heard the report directly from the healer.

 

“He was,” Hyungwon’s husky voice answered, having arrived without the two noticing. Both of them looked up at the tall boy when he too pulled his hood off. “He’s late now though,” he commented as if he only realized it just now.

 

Wonho closed his eyes at this in realization and sighed internally – something had probably triggered Changkyun’s old behavior, and had maybe even been unconsciously using the thorns as a punishment for whatever it was that had occurred, and had thus most likely avoided telling Kihyun about it. Even though the youngest would undoubtedly make excuses as to why, Wonho decided to ask.

 

“Changkyun, why didn’t you tell him about this if he was close by, you know he could’ve healed you on the spot,” turning his head towards the dark haired boy and wrapping an arm around his shoulders, keeping his voice soft.

 

“We didn’t have time; I had been chasing the drone for too long so we had to get back. Plus, it’s not like it’s anything serious,” the umbrakinetic boy ashamedly answered with shoulders hunched and head ducked. The scratches had honestly just stung – they didn’t slow him down or actually pose any real threat, other than making him uncomfortable. Wonho squeezed his shoulders a bit in reply, having had his beliefs proven by the pretty obvious excuse the younger had stated.

 

His heart ached at times like this – could the boy not see how amazing he was? First of all, his abilities _amazing_ : unique and powerful with a hearing distance that surpassed most Ethereals in Solar to boot. 

 

And he was so strong on so many levels – Wonho knew for a fact that he never would’ve survived the things Changkyun had went through; too reliant on the companionship of others to survive not only one, but two rejections like the ones the younger had gone through, and then _still_ going strong on his own. His own father disowning him when he still had been a teenager was the largest blow Wonho ever had had to suffer, and still couldn’t bring the memory back without tearing up.

 

Though Wonho had eventually figured out that Changkyun hadn’t walked through the separations unscathed. Soon thereafter, the other members had probably caught on too; that the youngest actually had become rather scarred by them – _of course; who wouldn’t have?_ He had in some way gotten the habit of blaming himself for quite a lot of things as a consequence though – thinking that he wasn’t enough, wasn’t wanted, only getting in the way.

 

But Wonho admired his courage and persistence; his strive to be able to rely on himself. Though that strive often led him into demise when it turned into pigheadedness and refusal of helping hands until he was knee deep in shit – like it had today.

 

At least now he knew where the ominous feeling he had in the forest came from. He had always had a knack for picking up on things due to his more “sensitive” side, as his brothers called it. His emotions often simmered closer to the surface and was therefore ruled more violently by them than the others in the clan, for better or for worse. He was good at understanding what other people thought – the best at helping with troubles and worries – but thanks to always trying to take other people in account, he often took the blunt of whatever bother he was helping with and it could really take its toll on him, being the highly empathetic person he was. He didn’t care, or maybe he just didn’t notice himself being so affected by others’ emotions; keeping on doing it, even if it meant becoming an emotional punching bag of sorts. He simply couldn’t stand seeing people he cared for hurt and therefore helped them in the best way he could.

 

Like he would now. He knew the youngest could really dig himself deep into his head if he didn’t get whatever it was off of his chest – frustratingly enough it often took a bit of prying to uncover the root though; with Changkyun often being reluctant to talk about these types of things.

 

One side of him wanted to scold the youngest for making up excuses but as he had no real evidence that he was making something up, as he hadn’t been there to see what exactly had transpired. The other side realized that scolding would definitely bring more harm than good; judging by Changkyun’s body language. He looked miserable already, guilty and embarrassed, and Wonho almost felt bad for having to prod him for more explanations, even if he knew it would be better in the long run. But it could wait for a few more minutes, at least until Kihyun showed up he guessed. He instead settled for prying the ragged and unsalvageable coat off his shoulders since hundreds of tiny thorns were still stuck in the fabric, having been too tiny and too many for him to pluck and were surely making Changkyun feel uncomfortable.

 

“I’m sure he’ll be here soon though, don’t worry,” he said, shrugging off his own coat to wrap around Changkyun’s shoulders as he had noticed that even the polo beneath was torn in some places. “We need to get you some new clothes, I mean, shredded clothes are fashionable and all but not really optimal when you’re patrolling for 12 hours straight,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

 

“Says the guy who ripped the sleeves off his own coat,” was Changkyun’s sarcastic reply and Wonho was relieved that the younger hadn’t gone too deep under that he stopped jesting – maybe it wasn’t as bad as Wonho first thought? It didn’t escape his notice that Changkyun accepted his coat without complaint either, actually pulling the clothing closer around himself and then even _initiated_ skinship by leaning slightly into his side, even though Wonho was almost certain that it had been was an unconscious move. To be honest, the water elemental didn’t care whether it was conscious or not, just happy for the contact the younger was offering and was thus quick in complying to the nudge and slung a muscular arm around his shoulders once again.

 

A bit stunned by the actions he almost forgot to reply, hoping the small pause went unnoticed. “Yah, they were constricting my movements! It was necessary,” he huffed, feeling the need to rip his gaze from the younger, having stared for too long. Because even with blood and dirt smeared on his skin, Changkyun still looked attractive in a very charming manner – the little light that filtered through the canopy highlighted the arch of his small mouth, the straight bridge of his nose and the soft roundness of his high cheekbones.

 

Whatever reply Changkyun was going to give was interrupted by rustles in the bushes and Kihyun’s appearance, who looked around the glade, most probably doing a headcount.

 

“Where’s Jooheonie?”

 

_Yep. Definitely taking count._

 

“Not here yet, should be soon though,” Hyungwon said, barely stifling a yawn. And as if summoned by that, the electrokinetic member of the clan made an appearance, roughly dragging the hood off his head, revealing his snow white hair tied in a small bun.

 

“And there you go,” Hyungwon said as if it was he who had somehow magically summoned Jooheon to the clearing.

 

Changkyun felt more than heard Wonho’s voice when he called Kihyun over, rumbling through his side. His chest felt much lighter now, in Wonho’s reassuring company, and warm – as warm as the arm holding him. He was glad it was Wonho comforting him; being the one he felt the most comfortable with in these types of situations, though Jooheon and Hyungwon came in close seconds. Wonho had, for some reason, always been the one the youngest felt he could trust the most with his thoughts – probably because he was the most emotionally attuned to others out of the clan members; the best listener and the most understanding one of them. Big muscles hiding an even bigger heart.

 

Though he always strongly denied it, he was the one who _always_ cried to movies or series – even at the most unlikely times; only last week Changkyun and Hyungwon had had to combine their efforts to console him when they watched Disney’s Tangled. For the _fourth time._

 

Although the water elemental hadn’t spoken much this night, just being in his presence somehow helped calming his churning guilt. Knowing that Wonho actually _cared_ , genuinely and selflessly, having shown it through his small acts of kindness, had helped in turning the volume down in his head, muffling the voice chanting _failure, failure, failure._

 

He looked up when the shortest member of the group stopped before them, his brows furrowing at the sight of Changkyun, scrapes now clearly visible to his eyes.

 

“What the hell happened,” his tone demanding as he crouched before the youngest, immediately taking one hand in his own and placing the other on his cheek. “You have scratches all over,” voice almost sounding angry, at what Changkyun didn’t know, but most probably him and he ducked his head again in shame.

 

“He fought off a rose bush,” Minhyuk helpfully supplied from a few meters away, once again in his boyfriend’s arms. Changkyun saw from the corner of his eye Wonho open his mouth, probably to tell Minhyuk to “ _fuck off”_ , but Kihyun beat him to it.

 

“Shut up Minhyuk. Didn’t ask you,” he berated, eyes not leaving his work. Though the cuts had long since started healing themselves, Kihyun’s healing touch sped the process up and Changkyun let out a small breath of relief as the irritating pain was slowly leaving him. “You _literally_ have cuts all over,” Kihyun said, almost sounding a bit amazed at the newly discovered fact, having assessed Changkyun’s physical state.

 

At this revelation, Jooheon quickly walked over to his best friend, worry obvious even though half his face was covered by his mask still and came to a stop next to Kihyun, seemingly trying to assess the youngest shape himself.

 

“What _did_ actually happen?” Kihyun asked, softly this time, while trying to get Changkyun to meet his gaze. After a moment Wonho answered for him, having noticed that the younger disliked talking about the incident, for some unknown reason, guilt flashing in his eyes every time the subject was brought up.

 

“He accidentally jumped into a thicket of, _what we think_ ,” he pointedly shot a look in Minhyuk’s direction, “were rose bushes and tried ripping himself free,” he said, holding up the torn coat as evidence. Jooheon made a grimace at this, undoubtedly in the middle of imagining the scenario in his head.

 

“Jesus Changkyunnie,” he said, tone sympathetic.

 

“When did this happen?” Kihyun inquired Wonho, the elder now the apparent spokesperson for the youngest.

 

“I think he said it was during the chase of the drone,” Wonho told him, knowing that the tired Kihyun would become irritated at that answer as he had been present during the pursuit, though Wonho was aware he couldn’t lie either – even if it was to spare the youngest from the healer’s concerned wrath.

 

“Yah, why didn’t you say something? That was hours ago,” he almost yelled at Changkyun in exasperation; Kihyun looked tired and cold, which probably helped in bringing the irritation forth. He presumably stopped himself from lecturing the youngest right then and there after taking in the tired posture and lowered head, giving him the same signals that Wonho had received a while ago – _now was not the time._

 

Wonho tightened his grip around Changkyun trying to comfort him, rubbing his hand up and down the slope of his shoulders tenderly, to not disturb any unhealed grazes, somehow feeling almost as miserable as the younger looked.

 

Everyone seemed to be on varying levels of puzzlement at the youngest reluctance to talk – _sure_ , it was a bit embarrassing that he’d fallen into a bush, but it wasn’t that horrible. They did, however, after a while come to the conclusion, one after the other, that he had fallen into the old pattern of self-deprecating thoughts, but no one comprehended _why_ and _what_ the cause was – something as petty as some scratches from a bush could impossibly be the reason of this sort of breakdown.

 

It had never been physical pain that had caused Changkyun to revert into himself and his thoughts. Though not many – Wonho could almost count all of them on his fingers – the times something like this _had_ happened, it had always been triggered by some form of incident or by someone’s words or actions and then in turn what Changkyun’s own response had been to it.

 

When the kid had first joined the clan, the interval had been shorter between each time; the youngest always believing he had done something wrong. Over time, the gap had increased in the same pace as Changkyun’s confidence grew, and now it’d been a long time since the last occurrence. Wonho bitterly realized he’d been lulled into some sort of false sense of security; believing that Changkyun had once and for all been rid of the bad habit. Old habits die hard, he supposed.

 

Kihyun sighed and once again softened his voice, using the hand on Changkyun’s cheek to gently tilt his head upwards to meet his eyes, very much like Wonho had done, and found guilt meeting him when they finally locked onto his own. A fond smile settled on his lips and his brows released their frown.

 

“Stupid kid, why didn’t you say something?” not expecting an answer he continued, “Kids these days think they can run from their elders, where’re your manners brat?” he tried jesting, a small smirk forming before softening into a slight smile again. Changkyun relaxed a bit at that and finally said something.

 

“We didn’t have time; I had been chasing the drone too long for us to spare that kind of time,” he explained to him, exhaling a bit.

 

“Stupid boy,” he said fondly, pinching the now almost healed cheek. “Are you doubting my abilities?” he asked in a challenging tone, clearly joking.

 

Wonho felt some more tension leave the muscles under his arm, tiredness instead taking its place as the younger leaned a bit heavier on him. A tired smile grazed Changkyun’s lips when he answered Kihyun.

 

“Sorry Ki,” he mumbled, apparently having no comeback, but Wonho saw that the healer’s comment had done the trick – telling him that no one was really mad, only concerned, and that it was _okay_.

 

Jooheon had quietly watched their conversation and now made to sit down next to Changkyun and began in a familiar manner card his fingers through the, obviously tired, youngest dark hair. In the background, only muted noises of the night and a faint conversation between Shownu, Minhyuk and Hyungwon could be heard. Though it was mostly between the two tallest members, as Minhyuk looked half asleep in Shownu’s embrace at this point, shivering a bit due to the cool post-rain dampness.

 

Kihyun stopped once the cuts had wound themselves together and stood up and stretched a bit as the crouched position had made his limbs stiff and achy. He then turned to Jooheon to ask more about the first drone that had appeared, though in reality it was probably to actually give Changkyun some semblance of space. Because although the youngest always appreciated the efforts and the other members’ attention, he disliked being crowded and put in the spotlight for too long, instead feeling uncomfortable by it, and it was pretty obvious that everyone had been listening in on their conversation till this point.

 

For a few moments it was quiet between Changkyun and Wonho, both tuning the ongoing conversation between the others out. Changkyun felt his attention shrink from the world to the small space between his and Wonho’s head: it had become some form of tension built bubble now – Changkyun practically feeling unsaid words and questions hang in the air and braced himself, waiting for whatever the light haired man would say.

 

Wonho himself had an inner debate whether or not he would try to pry more tonight or just lay off, and let the younger sort himself out. By the looks of it though, whatever it was that Changkyun still felt guilty about, he wouldn’t exactly forget it and move on and at this point Wonho probably dragged it out more than necessary, knowing that the tension probably soon would turn awkward. He knew that now that he and Changkyun was “alone”, the younger would also be more open to talking, than if in front a couple of people.

 

 _C’mon. It’ll probably just get worse if you wait until later to talk about it. It won’t do anyone any favors._ He mentally tried to coach himself, knowing that he was being ridiculous.

_Just do it. Fast, like a band aid._

Wonho broke the silence after a minute or two, keeping his voice soft and coaxing.

 

“Changkyunnie,” Wonho gently squeezed his shoulder and turned his head to look at him.

 

“Can you tell me what’s _really_ bothering you?”

_Oh._

_That’s what he wants to talk about._

Changkyun honestly didn’t know why he was surprised the elder asked. Maybe he thought he’d gotten off the hook, mislead them? No, his members were smarter than to be fooled by some poor cover story about a bush. He still tried to desperately search for an excuse, not wanting to bother them with his trivial thoughts, having been doing that enough this night already – also the whole reason why he had excluded any feelings when he talked about the pursuit.

“I, the bush was-, I was-,“ he tried, beginning to scramble for a plausible reason, anxiety slowly beginning to rear its ugly head again.

“Changkyun, _breathe_ ,” Wonho cut him off, his low voice rumbling through his side, knowing that the younger needed to gather his thoughts. “It’s okay. You’re not stupid for having feelings,” reading him like an open book, though after their years of living together that should come as no surprise either.

 

He went silent for few moments and took a shaky breath and then let it go, voice rising with every word.

“I’ve failed you all,” Wonho blinked raised his eyebrows, wondering where this suddenly came from, though Changkyun missed this, looking down.

 

“I’m sorry. I let the drone so far and now they know, they know it all,” now Wonho started catching on what was really happening, “about our tactic and that the hideout is not in this forest and that we’re vulnerable and that-,” clenching his hands in fabric he began speeding up, now letting every doubt and racing thought from his patrol resurface until he once again was cut off, this time it was Kihyun though, who had turned from his conversation with Jooheon.

 

“Changkyunnie, no. What are you talking about? You haven’t failed us. I saw you; you did your best! I know you did. If you hadn’t thrown that rock, Hyungwon would probably have been too late,” he hurriedly said, trying to calm him down, though Wonho noted that he looked as surprised as Wonho himself felt at the sudden outburst. Wonho was glad Kihyun joined the conversation as his words would surely assure Changkyun more; considering that he’d been there to witness it all.

 

The water elemental felt the guilt and anxiety beginning to build up uncomfortably around him once again. It often took longer to get Changkyun to open up about his feelings. _A lot_ longer. This worried Wonho, and he was glad he’d brought this up now rather than later, his mind easing a bit from the guilt of having uprooted the youngest feelings like this – but the dark haired kid had clearly been alone with his thoughts enough already.

 

“I should have thrown the damn rock earlier. I should’ve just done it the second I saw it and it might not have gotten so far,” Changkyun now distractingly picked at his nails, and Wonho noticed the slightest of trembles under his arm, and he began feeling distressed himself at seeing the youngest like this.

 

“Exactly; _might_. You did what you judged to be the best decision, and thanks to you, it was stopped,” Wonho told him gently but with a firm undertone, punctuating his words by squeezing his hand tighter around Changkyun’s shoulder.

 

“Yeah, without you, the drone would _definitely_ gotten too far,” Kihyun tried reassuring. “No one else was nearby, so if you hadn’t gone after it, who would’ve?”

 

“But if I had been focused, I would’ve noticed it sooner and I wouldn’t have had to chase it,” he answered guiltily with bitterness creeping into his voice, and Wonho began wondering if Changkyun really was just sulking.

 

_Why is he arguing like this?_

 

“But you did notice it, didn’t you? And that’s the main thing. It’s no use trying to predict what could’ve been, since it hasn’t. Just focus on what you’ve succeeded in doing instead,” Jooheon now jumped in and tried calming.

 

Wonho suddenly came to a realization.

_He really believes he has exposed our secret._

 

He had never really seen the younger being pouty or dramatical or all in all – _stupid_ – in this manner in an actually serious conversation – as he seemed to be right now. Because to Wonho, the idea of Changkyun somehow genuinely believing that he’d single-handedly outed Solar seemed a bit… _silly?_ Although, when Wonho realized that this was, in fact, what was going on, it suddenly made sense. Unfortunately.

_He’s really so insecure in his abilities that he actually believes we’re going to blame him for something that hasn’t even happened._

 

Wonho felt his heart sink.

 

“Yes, but what if it happens again and I-,” Changkyun looked to Jooheon and began trying to argue, though was quickly intercepted by Wonho once again.

 

“It won’t. You’ve learnt from your mistake, haven’t you?” a few seconds passed before he agreed with a small nod. “Then it won’t happen again. And we’ll help you. You’re not alone in this, we got your back, ok?” Changkyun looked towards the forest with an empty look on his face with eyebrows slightly creased, as if contemplating Wonho’s words. His focus shifted back to Kihyun when said man shifted his weight after a few moments and was met with a small smile, though the youngest own face remained blank.

 

_Dammit._

 

“Changkyun. Look at me,” Wonho more or less ordered, waiting until dark eyes met his before continuing. “No matter what happens – you did your best. No matter the outcome, whether something actually happens or not, you did all you could. Alright?” Wonho didn’t wait for a response, trying to convey what they all thought. “I’m proud of you,” he finalized with as much honesty as he could muster in his voice and felt something stir in the air. Or his gut. Or head. He didn’t know, but the change was palpable. Changkyun’s brows began unfurrowing and his expression became softer, shoulders sinking slightly but eyes still holding on to Wonho’s gaze.

 

Wonho felt a flurry of emotions get exchanged in a silent conversation between their eyes, relief and gratitude being the prominent ones. Wonho gave a gentle smile in return and the thick atmosphere that had been clogging the four of them suddenly lifted.

 

“Come here,” Wonho said, his smile now a fond grin, and dragged Changkyun’s head, a bit roughly, down on his shoulder.

 

Changkyun gave a low whine in mock hurt, but greatly appreciated the offer.

 

Jooheon and Kihyun smiled at the exchange and eventually went back to their conversation. Changkyun tuned them out after a while, last thing he registered was something about Kihyun having been late because of a closer inspection of the drone and that the exchange group was also running late. At this point he couldn’t care, slowly beginning to get lost in his thoughts once more.

He had felt so _weak._ He knew all of the members would’ve been able to strike the drone down at first sight, one way or the other. But they didn’t _care_. They trusted Changkyun. Trusted his abilities to be able to take care of the problem anyway – knowing and believing that he could do it, and at that thought his heart swelled.

 

To have that trust was something extremely precious – after having been casted aside _because_ of his powers, to have that confidence from others made him want to cry. It first and foremost made his thoughts of himself rise. Could he be able to feel a little proud of himself for once?

 

He smiled a bit, tiredly looking out over his brothers.  

 

_If they so strongly believe in my abilities – to the point of maybe foolhardiness – maybe they aren’t as useless after all._

He made himself a bit more comfortable on Wonho’s shoulder and pulled the coat closer around his shoulders, feeling wholly okay with just drifting off then and there.

 

In return Wonho shifted their position a bit by turning towards the other and pulled the younger closer, almost into his lap, while slinging his left arm over Changkyun to get a better and more comfortable hold. The dark haired boy couldn’t find it in himself to care, feeling too drowsy and content in the warmth the other brought to fuss.

 

It felt nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't live without emotional fluff aight.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buckle up kids, this is gonna be a long one (cause i have no idea what planning ahead is) 
> 
> If the last chapter gave trouble, then this was fucking impossible to write lol I've been editing this and adding shit for so long that i don't even know what up and down is anymore. Still not happy with it ajshdjahfd I also realized that i'm writing slow burn, which wasn't actually intended. sigh. But! fear not! i'm trying to speed things up :D
> 
> Idk if this needs a trigger warning or not, but there is talk of lightly (ye bcuz that makes it better) abusive parents. If you think i should tag this, please let me know and i will(also plz tell me what to tag it as cuz i have no idea D: )

Changkyun was startled awake by a loud bang echoing from the living room and flew up from his bed, not yet fully conscious, and tried to stumble on sleep-heavy limbs to said room. He narrowly missed banging his head into the doorframe before working the door open, letting the artificial light from the living room spill into the dark space and into his squinting eyes. Being one of the lighter sleepers of the clan, only he, and now Kihyun had been alerted enough by the noise to have come so far to have entered the room, the cold floor quickly cooling his bare feet. Movement to his right caught his eye as Wonho appeared in his doorway across from his own, and Changkyun decided it was _too fucking early._

The man was wearing nothing more than a pair of dark boxer briefs, looking every bit as a cover model for Men’s Health Magazine as the group usually joked about him being. The water elemental had probably been too tired to care for changing the previous night, most likely deciding on just ridding himself of the patrol gear, as the clan had arrived late into the night – the exchange group had been almost 30 minutes late for some reason. A lot could be said about Wonho and his muscles, but he had all the right to be proud of them. At least in Changkyun’s opinion.

 

The youngest tore his gaze from the second oldest member as a fourth figure made itself known by the front door to the apartment.

 

_Of fucking course._

 

Jackson stood smiling in the doorway, though a bit uncertainly, door still swinging from his entrance, a distressed crease in his brow slowly forming at seeing the appeared members.

 

Kihyun’s voice, laced with sleepiness and obvious irritation, broke the silence: “Jackson,” was all he could muster in a breath for a few seconds, a hand over his eyes, clearly trying to form some sort of coherent sentence.

 

“What, the fuck, are you doing here at _ass_ in the morning?”

 

“Hi Kihyun-hyung,” he exclaimed, raising a hand absentmindedly as a greeting to the other two present in the room while looking around the living space, ignoring the question. His gaze flitted across the room and the people standing in it, seemingly distracted and oddly enough a bit stressed. And if not for the wandering gaze, it was obvious in the way that he’d ignored Kihyun’s question – the normally jovial and carefree guy was, surprisingly enough, quite hung up on age hierarchies and respect. His eyes finally landed on Jooheon’s door, to right of Kihyun’s, and pointed to it, his search probably having come to a fruitless end. 

 

“Jooheon is here, right?”

 

“Yes, Jackson, he’s here. He’s still in his room, probably on his way to murder you,” Kihyun answered, annoyed and still in the process of opening his eyes. “Do you know what time it is?”

 

“Uhh, no,” Jackson admitted, scratching the back of his head.

 

The four of them turned when the door to, surprisingly enough, Hyungwon’s room glided open to the right of Wonho’s. The owner of the bedroom slowly stepped out in oversized sleepwear and a pair of round glasses, looking as alive as Changkyun felt.

 

“What’s happening?” he wondered, voice raspy and heavy with sleep.

 

“Jackson here just woke the entirety of Solar before the crack of dawn while kicking our front door open, just so he could see his soulmate,” Kihyun summarized, starting to look like he was questioning whatever gods he had angered as to why he needed to be punished like this – Changkyun could relate.

 

Hyungwon hummed in confirmation and appeared to have had his curiosity sated; beginning to turn back towards his room and to his bed. Wonho, however, had other plans.

 

“Oh no, you’re gonna suffer through this with us,” he said as he stepped closer to the tall man and prevented him from reentering his bedroom by winding an arm across his shoulders, holding him fast with a too-happy smile on his face.

 

“Why are you wearing glasses?” Wonho suddenly questioned, incredulously.

 

“Aesthetics.”

 

“Ah. Of course,” Wonho replied with dripping sarcasm.

 

By now Jackson was ignoring the two since a fifth door, whose owner was the one he had originally come for, opened to Wonho’s left and made way for the electrokinetic member of the clan.

 

“Jooheony!” Jackson cheerily called, sounding relieved at finding his – clearly cranky and exasperated – bonded.

 

“What?” Jooheon answered in a grumble after a few seconds, rubbing a hand through his hair, eyes still not opened while leaning on the doorframe to his room.

 

“Jooheon, please tell your boyfriend that it’s wrong to barge into people’s dorms before the sun has risen,” Kihyun complained, seeing as the speedy man had all but ignored him throughout his visit.

 

At the word boyfriend, Changkyun’s thoughts were pulled towards the resident couple and then to their odd absence from the living room; being the only ones of the clan not present.

 

“Where are Shownu and Minhyuk?” Changkyun asked no one in particular, his morning voice coming out deeper than usual. Only Wonho answered, with a shrug and saying that they were still probably sleeping.

 

Changkyun hummed in response and looked to the floor to avoid staring at the elder’s bare torso and legs, playing it off as needing to rub away sleep from his eyes with the heel of his hand.

 

Changkyun _knew_ he shouldn’t feel the need to avert his eyes when seeing Wonho in only his underwear; there should be no reason to. For christ sake – he had seen all of his members naked more than once after having lived with the six of them for over 5 years. But the other members didn’t make him feel embarrassed for having looked at their bare backs when they switched in and out of the shower queue after a sweaty training session. He knew all of his brothers were good-looking – you’d have to be blind to not see that – but he couldn’t deny that the second oldest was definitely the handsomest, at least in his own opinion.

 

The man also had a tendency of making Changkyun confused – clinging to the youngest in ways that was on the verge of being beyond brotherly, making Changkyun feel strange, and then perplexing him by going over to the next person and giving them a similar treatment. He couldn’t call his upbringing particularly cuddly, and Ethereal’s were on the average more touchy than humans, but Wonho (and Minhyuk too to be honest) still confused him when touches turned slightly more intimate. He thoroughly enjoyed skinship with all the members, though he was still working on becoming confident enough to reciprocate it.

 

His attention was brought to the bonded pair in the room when Jackson stepped forward to embrace his soulmate, a tad strongly as he almost looked to be knocking the surprised silver-hair over, who only regained his balance by grabbing a hold on the other’s sweater. Judging by Jackson’s disheveled appearance – hair sticking up in a hilarious manner, dark rings under his eyes - Changkyun supposed you should give him kudos for actually wearing _something_ , because he seemed to have forgotten his shoes in his rush to their dorm, standing barefoot on the living room floor. He was still probably wearing his pajamas by the looks of it and Changkyun resisted the urge to laugh at the stressed-out blonde.

 

“Jackson, I love you, but why are you here this damn early?” Jooheon exasperatedly questioned his boyfriend, squinting at him with eyes still unused to the light.

 

“I couldn’t sleep at all last night, you kept worrying me,” he confessed, absentmindedly pushing his fingers through Jooheon’s matching hairstyle of uncombed bed hair; trying to bend the unruly silver locks to his will.

 

 _Poor man. Does he worry this much each time we’re on patrol?_ Changkyun chuckled internally but was slightly startled by the next words coming from the trespasser.

 

“What happened? Was it the Warden?”

 

_How does he know something happened?_

 

No one in Solar had cellphones out of the fear that the crater would light up like a Christmas tree if the Warden tried to track them, and everyone in the clan, except Shownu, had headed back to the apartment as soon as they’d arrived at Solar – too tired to do anything else. The leader had headed to Jiyong’s quarters to do a brief report on the evening’s previous events, as the leaders of each squad was supposed to when something had occurred during patrol. The older had told him to come back the following day for a more fleshed out version, in front of other leaders, so everyone would become more well-informed regarding the drones. The oldest had then headed straight back to the dorm, making it impossible for anyone else besides the “leader” of the haven know of the night’s happenings.

 

“Yeah, they tried using a couple of drones to get into the forest, but we took care of it,” he said, still in the embrace of his bonded.

 

“Anyone hurt?”

 

“Nothing worse than a couple of scrapes, but it was a bit chaotic and panicky for a while before we got things under control – which is why you probably felt my emotions a bit strongly,” Jooheon elaborated at the unsaid question.

 

_“Felt my emotions”? What the fuck does that mean?_

 

“What do you mean, “felt my emotions”?” Changkyun inquired, deciding on not straining his brain with theories.

 

Jooheon turned his head to Changkyun, eyebrows slightly raised in question. “Yeah, feel my emotions. What it sounds like,” he stated, as if it was obvious. “You didn’t know?” he teasingly added with a sleepy smirk.

 

“Well, excuse me,” Changkyun drawled, “it’s not like there’s a manual on soulmates lying around, or bonded-classes to attend, asshat,” he defended with an eyebrow raised. “How should I know?”

 

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever,” Jooheon answered and stuck out his tongue.

 

Changkyun looked around to the others, trying to gauge their reactions and to see if he was the only one who had been unaware of this fact – he knew very little of soulmates, having heard mostly rumors and such. When he’d been wandering with his previous group he’d once met other Ethereals, older ones, who told them a bit more about their kind, but only mentioned soulmates. The conversation with Yoongi had been one of the most informative bit of knowledge he’d probably ever gotten concerning bonded Ethereals. His eyes landed on Wonho, whose eyebrows were scrunched with an unfocused gaze that seemed far away, lost in thought about something – Changkyun supposed he wasn’t the only one who had had a revelation.

 

“Basically,” Jackson piped up and loosened his hold of the white haired man to look at Changkyun, “we can kinda sense what the other is feeling, but if the emotion is particularly strong – like say, he’s really happy or angry – it’s more distinctive.”

 

“It’s like a loudspeaker, kind of – the volume is usually turned down pretty low, but gets higher when the other’s emotions are amplified,” Jooheon tried to simplify.

 

“The more you know,” Kihyun said dryly.

 

Chankyun zoned out a bit after that – talk of the drone had awoke Changkyun’s anxiety from his sleepy mind, forming a small lump in his stomach every time his thoughts wandered to the patrol and his mistake. Because that was how doubt worked – worming its way into the very corners of the brain, making a home for itself, even if you constantly tried to chase it out. That tiny _“what if?”_ whispering in the back of his mind was hard to counter as it always came up with new arguments and new scenarios, even if they were sometimes downright irrational.

 

It wasn’t even half as bad as it had been yesterday, thanks to a certain hyung – the incessant reassuring about how Changkyun had done enough had helped in quieting the guilt-filled anxiety, at least temporarily, but hadn’t been completely eradicated. For now, he just decided to shove all thoughts of the drone to the back of his mind, as much as he could – resolving to distract himself whenever the uninvited thoughts decided to show up, like he did with all unwelcome musings.

 

“He got scared by the drone yesterday,” Hyungwon explained from the other side, waking Changkyun up from his little reverie, as to why Jackson had sensed Jooheon.

 

“Yah, I just wasn’t prepared that it would come out of the bushes,” Jooheon said, trying to preserve his dignity.

 

“His yell could probably be heard all the way to town,” Hyungwon continued with a lazy smirk, ignoring the second youngest.

 

Before further argument could break out between the two, they were interrupted by the last bedroom door opening, from across the rectangular living room, the leader of the X-Clan making his way over. Shownu didn’t even look awake as he wore a distant gaze while staring at the six of them, eyes wandering from person to person, stopping a bit on Jackson before finally landing on Kihyun.

 

“What did I miss?” he said a bit awkwardly in the silence that had settled, picking a bit absentmindedly at the morning stubble on his chin.

 

“Oh, just Jackson breaking into our apartment to see ‘honey,” Kihyun answered. “Where were you?”

 

“Minhyuk’s sick,” the earth elemental stated. “And clingy,” he added as an afterthought.

 

“Well, when isn’t he?” Kihyun said, cocking his hip and putting his hands on his waist.

 

“Sick?” Wonho asked, looking concerned.

 

“Yeah, he’s got a cold and complains that his head hurts, most likely thanks to yesterday’s rain,” the oldest sighed and pulled a hand through his hair. Kihyun groaned, knowing how whiny and needy Minhyuk got when he had a cold, though they all knew the group mom was more fondly exasperated than actually annoyed at the news.

 

“Get him some water for now ‘cause I think we’re out of painkillers,” he mused. “We’re starting to run out of a lot of food too, so we need to go grocery shopping today,” he rubbed a hand over his face and bowed his head backwards, opening his sleep-swollen eyes and looked to the ceiling blinking a bit sluggishly.

 

“Yeah, but how about we talk about this at a more reasonable time of the morning? I can’t function properly before at least 10,” Hyungwon grumbled and Wonho turned to him with a smile. “You never function properly, turtle.”

 

Which earned himself a jab in the ribs that made him lose his hold of the taller, who took the chance and, surprisingly quickly, slunk into his room again.

 

“Does anyone know what time it actually is?” Changkyun said, a tad exasperated.

 

“Around 5:30 or so,” Shownu answered and the youngest groaned; he’d only gotten a few of hours of undisturbed sleep.

 

“C’mon Jackson, I’m going back to sleep and you’re joining me or I’ll fry your ass,” Jooheon groused, tugging along a happily following blonde.

 

Another moment passed before Changkyun watched how, in silence, Kihyun just decided in leaving too – the healer turned his head to the side, towards his room, body following the momentum of the twist and he stumbled back inside, dragging the door half-shut behind him.

 

Changkyun blinked and turned to the two remaining members of the clan and murmured a _“good night”_ which he heard got returned with _“but it’s morning, Kkukkungie”_ from Wonho, turning back to the cozy darkness of his bedroom and _beloved_ bed.

 

_Darling I’ve missed you~_

 

-

 

Breakfast, a couple of hours later, was a surprisingly merry affair – everyone seemed to be in a good mood despite the rude awakening and the previous night’s events. Jackson provided with much of the high spirits, happy to socialize with other clans besides his own, and everyone looked to be enjoying themselves. Well, except for Minhyuk – bundled up on his chair with the covers from his and Shownu’s bed pulled close around him, sniffling and looking miserable – which ended up with a sceptic Hyungwon loudly questioning; _“How the hell can you catch a cold when your element is fire?”_

 

To which Minhyuk grumbled with a pout; _“How the hell aren’t you sinking through the ground so we can all be spared from your attitude, huh?”_ And Changkyun decided to tune the bickering out after Minhyuk had added; _“I control fire, not heat, you moron,”_ and shifted his focus back towards his food.

 

Although there were of course general boundaries regarding the Ethereals, but just like with soulmates – there weren’t any manuals on how _anything_ actually worked, and each skill worked more or less individually different from what others’ did – even if they belonged to the same element or aspect. They mostly went with the flow of things, although of course similar-powered people often tried to help each other out with their abilities, like Jooheon had helped Changkyun with harnessing his darkness – teaching him his techniques and the like.

 

-

 

“Hey Changkyunie,” Wonho greeted with a smile as the younger stepped out of the bathroom, rising from his spot on the couch, seemingly having been waiting for him.

 

“Hey Wonho,” he said to return the greeting, a bit confused as to why the elder had been waiting for him, knowing the hydrokinetic already had showered.

 

“I was wondering if you wanted to go grocery shopping with me? We are running low on most things, especially now with Minhyuk being sick,” he explained.

 

“Yeah, sure,” he replied with a smile, having nothing else planned that day. “Just the two of us?” he asked, seeing no one else present in the living room, mentally stomping the infuriating little flicker of hope out at the possibility.

 

“Yeah, everyone is busy; Jooheon is with Jackson, Kihyun is taking care of Minhyuk while Shownu is elaborating on what happened yesterday to Jiyong and some other leaders. He brought Hyungwon along to help with the details of the story, so the chore falls upon us,” he grinned.

 

Quickly pushing down any thoughts regarding the events of yesterday from stirring up, he gave the older a small smirk.

 

“So,” Changkyun drawled, “it wasn’t actually a question whether I wanted to or not,” he stated with mock hurt that cracked only because he couldn’t keep his smile from shining through.

 

“Bingo! The man with the wet hair got it!” Wonho exclaimed with a cheery announcer voice, making the younger flick his towel towards the elder’s thigh.

 

“Stop being so annoying! Lemme just get ready and we’ll go,” Changkyun muttered, but couldn’t help the grin on his lips.

 

“Okay, okay,” the taller said, after having jumped a safe distance away from Changkyun’s towel, still smiling annoyingly. “Let me speed the process up a bit though,” he added and raised a hand, pulling the lingering water from Changkyun’s hair and directing it through the air towards the sink in the kitchen behind him.

 

“Thanks,” the youngest said offhandedly, trying to make his now dry and frizzy hair obey by desperately dragging his hand through it, turning his back towards Wonho and headed for his room.

 

“Youngsters these days – doesn’t even know how to show proper gratitude for their elder’s efforts,” Wonho scoffed dramatically from behind him. Changkyun whirled around and couldn’t resist.

 

“Thank you Shin Hoseok sunbae-nim! Thank you for your hard work! I’ll be working harder in the future to improve myself!” bowing up and down rapidly, barely keeping a smile off his face.

 

“Stop, dear lord, stop!” Wonho yelled in feigned disgust while laughing, accidentally spawning Kihyun from Shownu and Minhyuk’s shared room.

 

“Can you two idiots tone it down! Minhyuk just fell asleep and I’ll personally behead anyone who wakes him up!” already looking ready to behead the two.

 

They didn’t even have time to apologize before the hot-headed group mom disappeared into the room once more, leaving both of them to stare at each other, on the brink of breaking into another fit of laughter.

-

 

To his enhanced senses the aged car smelt faintly of mold, with a tinge of motor oil and fuel wafting through from the loud engine, and the old black leather underneath him squeaked annoyingly every time he moved. Thankfully, the vehicle was fairly cool due to having been parked in the shade of the trees in the woods, and he was starting to dread the journey back as the sun was currently blazing in all its midday glory.

 

While Wonho drove, Changkyun noticed that he couldn’t stop sneaking glances at the elder’s pale, handsome face, currently wearing a relaxed expression with a calm hand resting on the wheel, lost in thought. Thanks to sitting to the right of the man, Changkyun could clearly see some of the old piercing holes that had been left to their own devices after Wonho had removed the jewelry from them. Changkyun would be lying if he said he didn’t miss them – combined with the silver hair with blue tips the elder had sported at the time; the double helixes, the lip ring, the nose and eyebrow studs had made for a _dangerous_ look.

 

If Changkyun was completely honest, he was a bit pouty over how easily the other could pull off both the cute and adorable look, and the cooler, more stylish fashion, depending only on which goddamn day of the week it was.

 

What he envied the most though, was the big heart Wonho possessed – he had never in his life met anyone more selfless than the man sitting to his left. Always taking everyone in account, made them feel comfortable and included, and switching in the blink of an eye to fierce when protecting and fighting for those he cared for. Changkyun was eternally grateful for the clan, but even more so for the second oldest who always, it felt like it to the youngest at least, _seen_ him – making sure he felt at ease, quick in being there whenever the mood changed even the slightest. Changkyun didn’t know how Wonho _knew_ – he just seemed to do. Talking about whatever when Changkyun couldn’t find words, instead happily listening to everything pouring from the water elemental’s thoughts and worries.

 

He couldn’t help but feel selfish – when had he ever done anything for the elder? He didn’t know whether the light haired man was aware of his altruistic behavior or not, but nonetheless Changkyun wanted to tell him – tell him how incredible he was, how thankful he felt and how much he-

 

_Shit._

 

He was not supposed to feel like this, at least not towards one of his adopted brothers. Changkyun had long since come to term with his attraction to his own gender, but the fact that he was gay was what scared him – he didn’t want to risk falling love with any of his clan members out of the fear that it would make the group dynamics awkward. It wasn’t that he was afraid of any of them being homophobic, given that three of them already was in same-sex relationships – he just didn’t want to risk fucking anything up, not now. Not when he had finally reached his haven. He would rather have 6 brothers than to jeopardize his position in the group and possibly ending up on his own again.

 

He slapped himself to stop the inner debate, succeeded in hilariously waking Wonho up from his own calm musings; the elder jumping in his seat at the sudden noise.

 

“Jesus-! What are you doing?” the elder looked aghast, one hand clutching at his heart – Changkyun could hear the rapid beating – and almost burst out laughing at the sight.

 

“I thought I felt a mosquito,” he chuckled, quickly finding a white lie as prevarication.

 

“Right,” Wonho slowly answered, still looking like he’d seen a ghost.

 

“Eyes on the road, mister!” Changkyun yelled merrily, which snapped the elder out of his cute stupor, swerving the slightest on the road in overcompensation and Changkyun couldn’t help but to laugh. Even though Jooheon was the known scaredy-cat of the clan, Wonho came in a close second of chicken-ness; easily jumping and yelling at unexpected noises and movements. Hyungwon had once bought one of those dog-squeaky toys in the shape of a chicken, and it had barely taken Wonho a week of harassment in the form of jumpscares before he ordered Minhyuk to _“burn the damn thing”_ much to Hyungwon’s grief.

 

They drove to the nearest grocery store, in a more suburban area of the small city, where the tallest building couldn’t have been more than 6 stories high. Pulling a mask over his mouth, Changkyun stepped out onto the warm parking lot asphalt and waited for Wonho before they headed into the air conditioned store. There were little to no people in the shop, since it was just past midday on a weekday, and the atmosphere was calm and laidback.

 

“First up,” Wonho read from the pink sticky note Kihyun had written – and everyone given _helpful_ contributions to – grabbing a cart, “some greens.”

 

They headed for the section of fruits and vegetables and began picking things from the list, Changkyun taking his time as he enjoyed the mundaneness off the ordinary task – letting him pretend for an hour or so that he and his members led normal lives, filled with normal boring responsibilities and have-to’s.

 

After ticking everything they needed from the vegetable department off the list, they continued into the aisle beside it, filled with toiletries, household necessities and the like.

 

“’Kyunnie, what do you think of this?”

 

Changkyun smiled and looked over at the elder who in turn turned his head back to the two different toilet paper brands he was vying.

 

“I think the left’s the one we usually buy,” he told him, going back to look for detergent.

 

They soon left the aisle and headed for the next which held mostly spices, baking ingredients and such.

 

“Should we get both the mixed curry package and the normal one, or just go for the normal one?” Wonho asked, instantly shifting his eyes towards the packages once Changkyun gave him his attention.

 

“Hmm, Kihyun would definitely want the normal one either way, but I think it would be fun to try that seafood flavored one, ‘cause I think I saw some cheap fish on sale on our way in.”

 

“Okay, both it is,” Wonho smiled and Changkyun got to enjoy the adorable way the corner of the elder’s mouth curled like a cat’s, the way it always did when he was satisfied or giddy over something.

 

They continued this for a while, strolling through aisles, consulting each other on different items and taking terms on pushing the other around on the cart since there were practically no one about to judge them.

 

“Wonho, which chocolate-,“ he looked up towards his elder and cocked his head in question when Wonho instantly whipped his head back towards the packets of candy in front of him.

 

“Are you staring at me?” Changkyun lifted an eyebrow.

 

The water elemental stared back for a second. “I-, uh, your hair is a bit messy,” Wonho suddenly walked over and swiftly brushed his hand through the dark blue hair. “There, all good,” he smiled a bit before walking back to the array of gummy candy sold at the shop.

 

“Okay…” Changkyun dragged the word out feeling a bit puzzled at the sudden action.

 

Wonho felt his face heat up but kept his head turned away from the younger to spare himself from embarrassment. He hoped the other had bought the explanation and would leave it at that, willing the rising color on his face to disappear. He had gotten stuck on Changkyun’s face and the endearing indecisive pout that revealed his dimples which the younger always sported when he was thinking hard about a choice.

 

 _Chocolate is_ indeed _serious business._

 

Wonho picked a few bags of candies he knew they all liked and went over to the younger to help him choose some chocolate bars. They then ambled over to the next aisle, but when Wonho was reading the remaining items on the list he realized they’d forgotten the cereal and told Changkyun he’d be right back.

 

When he returned to the aisle he’d left the younger in, he couldn’t help the fond, but tired, smile from spreading on his lips as he observed the scene before him.

 

_Eager to help, but too damn proud to receive it._

 

He stayed by their cart at the entrance of the two racks and watched as the younger was struggling to help an old lady get a package of coffee down from one of the top shelves – stumbling backwards and almost dropping it on his face before succeeding in catching it with his hands.

 

Though he’d never admit it out loud, the youngest was actually quite clumsy – stumbling over steps when climbing stairs, over strewn clothes on the floor or even just his own feet. Wonho mused it was probably was due to his typical absentmindedness that made him forget his feet while walking – an adorably charming trait of his.

 

The old woman smiled and reached to pinch Changkyun’s soft cheek, stunning the kid adorably, when he handed her the coffee.

 

“Thank you, dear,” she said before turning and putting it in the red plastic basket resting on her walker and then began to slowly make her way towards the freezers.

 

Wonho walked closer and found that he still couldn’t stop smiling, a strange sort of pride swelling in his chest. These days, if you didn’t know his history, it would be practically impossible to tell that the younger had suffered in his life due to his kind nature and strangely funny humor. The only things that could be a give-away was the way he was always eager to please and to be useful – which could have made him easy to exploit if he had been unlucky and ended up with a group of lesser morals. In spite of this, Wonho was immensely glad Changkyun’s personality had evolved the way it had – from what the older could judge, the younger had built resolve from his experiences, unconsciously or not, and had somehow escaped the strong bitterness many other Ethereals felt towards life in general. He didn’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if Changkyun’s character had went the other direction.

 

_He’s too good for this world. Too forgiving. If his family or old friends, or heck, if even the Warden apologized for what they’d done, he’d probably forgive them._

 

He knew he spoke for the entire clan when he thought he would raise hell if anyone dared to harm the kid.

 

“What?” the shorter asked when Wonho stopped with the cart in front of him.

 

“You’re so cute Kkukkungie,” Wonho couldn’t help admitting.

 

“No, I’m not,” came a half-hearted protest, muffled by the mask, and Wonho could’ve sworn he saw a blush spreading on the high cheekbones when the younger turned away and headed for the freezers.

 

-

 

“Hold on a minute, I’m just gonna check in with my mom,” Wonho said with a smile as they exited the store, groceries in hand and a much lighter wallet in his pocket.

 

Unlike many other Ethereals, Wonho was still in contact with his parents. Or well, sort of. His father had been the one to officially disown him – practically shoving him out the door with only a backpack of his things thrown after him – all while his mother had cried and silently watched from their downtrodden kitchen.

 

Before he could control his abilities, he’d had a tendency of accidentally pulling large amounts of water from taps and drains, without being able to stop it, regularly flooding the little house they’d lived in. Over the years it had resulted in extremely high damage expenses and a more and more aggravated father, whose _“stupid son never could leave the damn taps alone!”_

 

The man rarely turned physically violent; only when under the influence of alcohol and never more than a slap, but his manipulative comments and degrading words had been almost harder to put up with as he’d still spit them at his son when completely sober.

 

He loved his mother. Back then, along with his other “strange” friends, she’d been the light of his life; always there, trying to smooth over his father’s harsh words – telling him his father _did_ love him, he was just angry at the high costs for the repairs, and not at Wonho. Though Wonho _knew_ he was responsible for them, and in the end it didn’t comfort him much. But she’d _tried_. She was the only one in the family who had _tried_ to understand him; his father thought he was plainly stupid and his younger brother mostly stayed out of the way and rarely talked to him – afraid of pulling their father’s attention and temper towards himself. The final drop that overflowed the cup had come in the form of bankruptcy, and the evening his father received the news of their ruined economy was the last time Wonho ever saw his family.

 

They had all been afraid of the man, Wonho knew that, but he couldn’t help but to feel bitter towards his mom, who never put her foot down and said “stop” whenever his father had been riled up. Even though she cried when his father pushed him out the door, she didn’t actually try to prevent him from doing so.

 

He’d gone straight to Hyunwoo’s house – the older taking him in without a question, always having been supportive and aware of his situation while facing a similar one himself. They left Hyunwoo’s family barely a week later; his parents not particularly happy about finding out that Wonho had been living with them for whole days unbeknownst of them, making it a tipping point for the elder to finally leave the house too.

 

Wonho tried to stay in contact with his mother but his phone was being paid by his parents and was therefore fairly quickly cut, rendering it practically useless as he didn’t have money himself to pay for the bills. So whenever he could spare a coin, he’d roll them into the old phone booths when he could find one, praying she would pick up. The family’s economy had become better now that there wasn’t any accidents happening and she would, when she could, send him some money – trying to support her son at least a little – and he would in return update her, though very vaguely, on his life.

 

_“Yes, Hyunwoo and I are doing fine,” “it’s a part-time job, nothing special, but it gives some money,” “I’m in a city mom, it’s nice.”_

 

Wonho does not hold grudges – too understanding to be able to keep the anger-filled flame alive. He guessed he was similar to Changkyun in a way. However, as both the physical and emotional distance grew between him and his family, he began seeing the situation in a different light, especially after his brief conversations with his mother. He realized that the disowning, as painful as it had been, was actually more of a blessing than a curse. Though he felt terrible for leaving his mother and brother behind, he now knew how horrible his abusive and manipulating father was and was glad to be rid of his destructive presence. For as long as he’d known them, he’d had the constant support and encouragement from Shownu and the other friends of their little group, and he knew that he wasn’t “stupid” or any of the other downgrading slurs his father had called him – just different from most humans.

 

Wonho came to the conclusion, after seeing other people than he not realize that their situation was shitty – that when you’re in the middle of the situation, especially something that has been gradually escalating, it’s hard to step outside of it and see it from a different perspective. You don’t see what’s _actually_ going on as this has become the norm for you. You don’t _know_ anything else besides the shit you’re in.

 

Jooheon and Kihyun had met up with them maybe month later, his and Shownu’s departure acting as a catalyst for their own leaving, though Jooheon’s best friend Gunhee bitterly refused to join them, for a reason Wonho never figured out, much to the younger’s grief. Minhyuk and Hyungwon came soon after and their little of party of six was born, combining their efforts to make a living and found comfort in each other’s similarities. Where Wonho had had his friends, Changkyun hadn’t.

 

Placing the bags of groceries at Changkyun’s feet, he walked towards the rusty payphone booth and had to squeeze his large form in due to the door only opening halfway.

 

Changkyun stayed on the pavement a few meters away from the phone booth out of respect more than anything; both of them knowing that the younger would be able to hear what was being said even if Wonho closed the door and kept his voice low. 

 

He stood there for a while, looking at the little tufts of white dotting the clear blue sky, reveling in the quietness and the temperate warmth of a pre-summer day’s heat. After having read the newspaper headlines on the stand outside the store four times each – trying to block out Wonho’s low voice and the soft one answering him – he gave up and picked up the groceries the elder had left on the sidewalk. Having heard that the ongoing conversation had diverted from the ordinary greetings and “how are you’s” to something more private, he decided to leave. Heaving the paper bags up, he started down the sidewalk and headed for the car to stack them into the trunk.

 

For a couple of minutes he stood, leaning on the back of the car, and watched the dull scenery before him. If he strained his ears a bit he could still faintly hear the water elemental’s voice, though not most of his words. Instead he distracted himself by watching a kid drag her parent across the parking lot in joy, laughing the entire way, apparently happy about going shopping.

 

He thought about his own parents – he hadn’t talked to them in years now. He remembered how his parents would find him in pitch black rooms in the middle of the day, walls and floors completely engulfed in shadows, and how he would seek out the darkened rooftop at night, scaring them half to death. He had hated bright lights. He technically still did, but the urges he felt surrounding his powers and the needs he’d felt when he was a kid was manageable now that he had more control over his element. Now that he had a regular outlet and didn’t try to suppress his abilities, he could function as a normal person _without_ appearing like he was possessed by a demon as his religious parents had thought he’d been.

 

He toyed a bit with the car’s shadow, stretching and pulling it – stealing the light away from the spot – finally molding the corner of it into the cartoonish shape of a bunny’s head, though careful about keeping his activities inconspicuous in case someone would enter the empty parking lot. Doing simple things like this didn’t even manage to strain him anymore, as it had when he was younger, having practiced long hours with his shadows and cloaks for years now. The black holes though, were a different story.

 

Around 10 more minutes passed before Changkyun felt himself getting hit by a sudden wave of anger. Or well, he felt more confused than irritated, thinking more closely about it. He quickly grew more confused as irritation pressed against him from the outside. And inside?

 

_What in the heavens?_

 

It felt like… he was being suffocated. In a strangely gentle way, nearly like an annoying embrace. It quickly turned into frustration and sadness, leaving a sense of slight coldness around him, even with the sun high in the sky. Then the frustration changed into weariness, almost disappointment, followed by another wave of sadness. Changkyun stood blinking in the parking lot.

 

 _What is happening?_ He exasperatedly thought, dragging a hand through his dark hair, reminding himself of the way Wonho had fixed it for him in the store.

 

_Wonho._

 

_Maybe Wonho knows what this is._

 

It seemed logical – he was older, more experienced, maybe he had had a similar experience.

_I need to get to Wonho._

 

He was quickly on his feet and off down the dusty pavement, hurrying towards the phone booth, and somehow he just knew the older was crying before he even got there. All thoughts of his previous emotional experience flew out the window as he could now clearly hear the quiet sobs of the older man, voice a bit hoarse and unsteady from shedding tears. Although Wonho couldn’t help crying, especially since he did it as often as he did, Changkyun had learned he hated being seen while doing it.

 

He didn’t need to announce his presence, as Wonho could recognize his oncoming footsteps from a distance, and waited until the elder felt ready to leave the booth. The phone was still held against his ear, though Changkyun noticed that the line was dead, and his shoulders was ever so slightly quivering. He watched as the pale haired man hung the phone up and turned his head to the ceiling of the booth, heaving a shaky breath, before turning gingerly and stepping out of the small box onto the sidewalk.

 

He stood with his head bowed, staring blankly at the sidewalk, looking empty. Giving a humorless laugh he released another deep sigh, trying to collect himself.

 

"Our parents suck." Wonho chuckled bitterly, not needing to elaborate more, and tried to wipe his stray tears with the back of his hand, further reddening his eyes. 

 

"Yeah, they do," Changkyun agreed, breathing out the sentence in a low voice, and looked at his elder with sympathy. Changkyun wouldn’t say comforting people really was his forte, but this was _Wonho_ and he knew his hyung well. He therefore knew that right now, the elder was in desperate need of a hug; always extra clingy and touchy after crying. 

 

He stepped closer and wound his arms around Wonho’s middle in a reassuring hold. The hydrokinetic’s own arms quickly came up to press the younger closer to himself, settling in a natural manner around Changkyun’s back and shoulders. He softly rested his head against the dark haired kid’s own, sniffling a bit while trying to even out his breathing. The sidewalk became quiet, save for cars passing in the distance and the seagulls chattering on top of the building’s roof, the air parched despite the rain that had fallen during the night. A minute or so passed before the older broke the silence with dry humor.

 

"Imagine telling them we were gay too," chuckled Wonho through the last of his drying tears, his voice still a bit thick after having cried, but clearly trying to lift the tension. 

 

"Uh, yeah," Changkyun answered a bit awkwardly, feeling caught off guard. He didn't know how the taller knew about his sexual orientation. He'd never brought it up in his years of living with the clan and no one had really brought theirs up either; probably not feeling any need to. He wasn’t surprised at Wonho defining himself as gay – Changkyun had always had a hunch about the guy being  _something_  other than straight – maybe because of the relationship the elder had once had with a transsexual person, which he had mentioned some time. 

 

Wonho must’ve caught onto his surprise as Changkyun’s felt the other’s chest rumble a bit in low laughter before speaking. 

 

“You’re more obvious than you think, Kkukkungie,” he said, the younger hearing his smile through his voice even if his face was beyond his line of sight. 

 

Was he? Now he felt extremely self-conscious. 

 

_Have I been caught staring? Oh my fucking god this is embarrassing._

 

The elder quelled his immediate worries though. “I remember that time you, Minhyuk and Jooheon had been out shopping for the laptop and when you got home you were talking about a  _very handsome_  clerk helping the three of you out,” he said, some more laughter spilling from his mouth while he was talking. Changkyun felt relieved, maybe he hadn’t been caught? They pulled away but still stayed within their personal space, the ongoing conversation creating the need for a more private space, between just the two of them. 

 

Changkyun could feel his face heating up at Wonho’s retelling of the memory, and tried to desperately – vainly – defend himself. 

 

“Maybe I was speaking objectively! You can say a painting is beautiful too, but that doesn’t mean you wanna lick it!” 

 

Wonho immediately burst out laughing. “Lick it!? What kind of simile-!” He cut himself off to laugh even harder. 

 

Changkyun turned away in embarrassment and muttered curses under his breath, but Wonho grabbed his arm to turn him back, still smiling like an idiot. The younger let him, and studied his face – eyes turned into adorable slits thanks to their slight swollenness and his sunshine grin. His otherwise oh-so pale cheeks were a bit flushed, presumably because of the crying, and the area around his nostrils shimmered a bit from the dampness. It was adorable. And now Changkyun’s stomach was feeling the same way it did when he’d once tried a rollercoaster with loops. 

 

Sadly, the feeling was broken by the elder’s next sentence. 

 

“Do you have a tongue fetish, Changkyun?” 

 

“What the fuck, no!” He protested and tried to turn away again, though Wonho’s hands on his arms effectively stopped his attempt. 

 

“I don’t know Changkyunie, licking a painting isn’t the first thing most people would think of,” he teased with the biggest shit-eating grin. 

 

“I’M LEAVING WITHOUT YOU!” Changkyun screeched, completely done with the teasing, and tried to wriggle out of the taller’s strong grasp. 

 

“You don’t even have a license,” he laughed and pulled Changkyun closer so he wouldn’t escape. 

 

“No, seriously though,” the elder said after a few moments of play-wrestling. “It’s just small things that made me come to the conclusion that you were gay. Thank you for confirming it, by the way,” he grinned and Changkyun glared. “But it was especially after the second time we were drinking with Jackson and the others and you-“

 

“La la la la~,” Changkyun singsonged loudly, effectively cutting Wonho off while closing his eyes tight and pressing his hands over his ears. 

 

“I have no idea what you mean! I have no memories of that night~!” He continued and drowned out every attempt the older made to continue his story. 

 

It wasn’t like Changkyun had actually blacked out or anything that night, he had just, for the sake of his sanity, decided to repress the embarrassing moment. Actually kind of succeeding as he had, at least temporarily, forgotten it. Attempting to spare himself from some embarrassment he tried to direct the conversation elsewhere.

 

“How is your mother?” He gently asked after removing his hands from his ears, breaking Wonho’s tirade off, and almost instantly regretted it as the elder’s mood switched in a manner of seconds.

 

“Oh. She’s… good,” the taller stated uncertainly. “She’s got a new job, which she likes, but dad hovers above her more now that my brother’s moved out,” he went on, with a surprisingly even, but a worryingly monotone voice. The cold feeling returned to envelope Changkyun.

 

_Shit._

 

Now he’d just freshened up the new wounds the elder had received.

 

“We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Changkyun said, keeping his voice soft and gentle, reaching up to place his hands on the arms that had moved to softly hold onto his sides.

 

“I-,” the other looked away for a few seconds, looking uncertain with an increasingly deepening frown on his brow. “No, maybe it’s better to share,” he mumbled, looking back at Changkyun with some newfound resolve.

 

The younger was somewhat informed of Wonho’s family situation, as all the members were, having puzzled together the little information the older had shared throughout the years.

 

“I convinced her that it would be better if she left him,” Wonho said with an airy tone, looking past Changkyun’s head with distant eyes.

 

“That was six months ago,” he exhaled with quiet anger in his voice.

 

“She said she would divorce him, and I thought I’d gotten through to her, but-,” he took a shaky breath, tears starting to form in the corner of his eyes but looking more frustrated than anything else. “She said that my dad just needs some time to sort himself out,” a dry laugh escaped him as if his words were a joke, “but he hasn’t been sorted for the past 20 fucking years! She’s just too ingrained into this life to see any difference.” He clenched his teeth in anger, tears now rolling down the flushed cheeks.

 

“I got angry and tried to tell her that, but she just kept making up excuses and argued against whatever I said,” he paused and looked down to take a breath and Changkyun decided to keep quiet, his hands reassuringly rubbing Wonho’s upper arms, waiting for the elder to continue.

 

“She’s scared,” Wonho said with a low voice, staring at the ground, “I just want to help her.” His words now began to wobble and Changkyun’s heart hurt by just looking at the older.

 

“I don’t know what to do,” voice barely louder than a whisper, sad desperation escaping along with a heart wrenching sob. He began leaning forward into Changkyun’s shoulder, seeking support, who placed a hand behind the elder’s head and back, holding him steady. He waited until the taller had calmed down a bit until he spoke.

 

“I don’t want to bring you down but, right now – as ours and hers situation is; you can’t do much,” Changkyun hesitantly spoke, thinking about how devastating it would be if Wonho’s father found out about his son and his wife’s secret phone calls.

 

“What you can do, and need to do, is to support your mom until she takes the step. She’s a smart, strong woman who knows how to handle your dad and herself until she realizes that enough is enough,” he spoke with more conviction in his words. “Maybe keep trying to nudge her – give her some pros and cons – and try to keep reasoning with her,” he advised, feeling the stormy emotions bubbling in the air slowly fade, the coldness beginning to seep from his bones. “It’s up to her. But do what you can from here and remember – it’s not your fault,” he finalized, holding the elder tighter who only sniffled a bit in return.

 

Changkyun lost track of time as the two stood in silence on the sidewalk, the gentle sun warming their backs. He didn’t want to let go of the older, a selfish part of him not caring about the emotional situation, only wanting to enjoy the moment of holding the one he-

 

_No._

 

That’s a dangerous word. He couldn’t admit it, not even to himself, because putting a name on it would make it real and he can’t risk that. Instead he closed his eyes and lent his head against the elder’s.

 

_Dammit. Why is it so hard today?_

 

“Thank you,” he heard Wonho suddenly say against his shoulder, though it came out slightly muffled thanks to the fabric of Changkyun’s black t-shirt.

 

“Don’t worry about it,” he assured and moved his hand from the taller’s head to join the one resting on his muscular back, feeling Wonho beginning to move in his arms.

 

They held eye contact past the point where other people would’ve felt, to say the least, awkward, and Changkyun watched Wonho’s red-rimmed and puffy eyes search his own, convey emotions he couldn’t decipher, but at the same time understand perfectly. The final chill in his skin and bones vanished at the same time Wonho smiled. It was a small and frankly quite tragic smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

 

“Let’s go,” the elder said and took a step back, “I think the ice cream _may have_ melted by now,” he continued and took Changkyun’s hand in his, gently pulling the other towards the car. Changkyun’s heart involuntarily took a leap, but at the same time felt himself calm down. It somehow felt completely natural.

 

-

 

Wonho’s ice cream intuition was correct, but no one really commented on it or asked any questions regarding their late arrival as the second oldest eyes were still rabbit red and puffy by the time they entered the clan apartment.

 

Shownu retold what had been said at the leader meeting; everyone was to be informed and aware of the added threat when out on patrol. The exchange between the groups also had to be more effective: the arriving group must switch in individual relay, at the border of the forest – rather patrolling double for a while than to leave the boundary open for so and so many minutes.

 

It wasn’t until he was lying in bed that night, stomach full of fish curry, that he remembered the odd experience in the dusty parking lot. He hadn’t been angry or sad or anything close to the emotions he’d faced in the burst, he had been watching clouds for heaven’s sake. Not like Wonho had, the poor man. Changkyun felt bad for the elder – had he been in that kind of situation with helpless frustration hanging over him, he’d been angry and sad too.

 

Jooheon’s words from the morning suddenly echoed in his head.

 

 _“Yeah, feel my emotions. What it sounds like.”_ Changkyun could see his sleepy smirk in front of him. _“You didn’t know?”_

 

He opened his eyes wide in the darkness.

 

Jackson supplied in his mind: _“Basically, we can kinda sense what the other is feeling, but if the emotion is particularly strong – like say, he’s really happy or angry – it’s more distinctive.”_

 

His heartrate rose from its drowsy slumbering pace.

 

 _“It’s like a loudspeaker, kind of – the volume is usually turned down pretty low, but gets higher when the other’s emotions are amplified,”_ Jooheon had tried to simplify.

 

His pulse was now pounding in his ears, hope arisen and stomach flip-flopping in the stillness of his small bedroom.

 

_Could it actually have been…?_

A small part of himself wanted to scoff for even imagining the possibility – they’d known each other for _five years_ – why now? However, another part of him felt hope grow. His heart thumping at the thought of _maybe._ Just _maybe_ there was a chance after all. Could he _actually_ dare to hope for something like this when he’d once already gotten all that he’d ever wished for? Could he be selfish enough to wish for more now?

 

-

 

In the bedroom opposite of Changkyun’s, the resident hydrokinetic member of the clan lay awake with an inner debate of his own. Rubbing his hands over his face he groaned, whishing that the action could wipe away thoughts the way it would with dirt.

 

He _knew_ the signs of a crush. He was well aware of his liking towards the youngest – had been for a good while now – knowing how he reacted by his experiences of previous fleeting relationships and infatuations.

 

He liked the way Changkyun would cutely press his lips together and smile to reveal his dimples whenever he wanted something. He liked the way Changkyun would steal his half-eaten pieces of food when he thought Wonho wasn’t looking, he loved his deep voice and how raspy it sounded in the morning. He liked how Changkyun would try to make an effort to get more used to skinship; bravely putting an arm around his, or Jooheon’s, shoulders, or have a drum solo on Wonho’s butt while the clan was watching a movie – he could make the list endless if he so wanted.

 

But this was also somehow very different – this somehow didn’t have that weirdly awkward boundary testing he’d always felt was blocking him when getting to know, or trying to get to know, his previous crushes. Everything somehow felt _simple_. Natural. Always had.

 

It didn’t have the same elements the simple crush had. A crush made you feel giggly when the person _looked_ at you. Changkyun’s glances made him calm down and feel warm all-over, sometimes spreading out and tingling in his bones and fingertips. He sometimes felt the urge to simply hold and hug and protect Changkyun – _kiss him_. Tell him how much he mattered and how loved he was, no matter what the kid might imagine himself.

 

Of course his heart would take a leap whenever Changkyun cracked a grin at him or laughed in that rare, hearty way, but he would somehow feel… fulfilled? He couldn’t put his finger on the exact emotion, other than feeling pure, careless joy.

 

And then there was _that_. That _thing_ that had happened in the forest. Wonho had frankly felt spooked by the ordeal at first, but when the bonded pair had explained this morning what it meant to be bonded, his thoughts had immediately been drawn to the previous night’s happening.

 

It felt ridiculous to think it.

 

And it didn’t.

 

Throughout the day, Wonho had pondered the thought of it and realized that it probably wasn’t the first time it had happened – when celebrating the clan’s second “birthday” at the haven, Jooheon and Changkyun had performed one of their many mixtapes they’d created throughout the years. The rush Wonho had felt when the two had stepped off the makeshift stage couldn’t possibly have been his own – sure, he was extremely proud of them both, and shared their joy, but not in any way imaginably close to what the two must’ve felt when they finished and received the incredible reaction from the entirety of Solar. But due to the overall mood of the crowd, the alcohol and feeling immersed and proud himself; he probably didn’t take it into account as much as he had had when he was patrolling. Out in the forest the sudden mood swing had thrown him off, startled him, and it had been impossible to ignore. If he searched his mind, he could count at least a few other times when emotions had most likely been projected towards him.

 

But he couldn’t know for certain though, _not yet_.

 

He also had thought of what Changkyun meant to him, and the more he thought about it; the more it all, incredibly enough, made sense.

 

Changkyun was definitely one of the persons he trusted the most; the one he could spill his ugliest thoughts to without having to worry about looking disgusting to while letting his mind leak out.

 

He somehow knew the feeling of trust was mutual, even without Changkyun’s verbal confirmation, because Wonho had noticed how the younger tended to draw towards him and not the others when he felt off or down.

 

But he was supposed to be his _little brother_.

_At least now I know he’s gay._ His mind provided dryly.

 

He knew he’d taken a risk by stating it – in fact, an array of risks today – but it had been worth it, watching the brief mental breakdown and cute embarrassment play out _very_ obviously before the younger had even tried to defend himself.

 

_But what if we actually are bonded? What then?_

Some soulmates stayed friends – he’d seen it with two pairs already.

 

 _But_ I _don’t want to stay friends._

 

He pouted and crossed his arms over his white covers.

 

_What in the heavens am I supposed to do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m very sure Wonho (and the rest of MX) have pretty nice parents irl, so im sorry Wonho. I know how much u love your mom. 
> 
> Also, I have no idea how tracking cellphones work, I just assumed things :D but, whatever, theyre around each other 24/7 anyways :| 
> 
> My friend has started beta reading this thing, so we'll see when she catches up cause, unlike me, she's got a life
> 
> (lol btw, that long-ass scene with the phone call? It all stemmed from this first draft: 
> 
> After shopping, wonoh wants to call his mom to check in on her.  
> Cries  
> CK comforts him.
> 
> And then i just went with it, dear lord, i need help)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise mothafucka. 
> 
> I have no idea how i wrote this chapter so fast tbh, it has never happened before lol
> 
> Also! Thank you everyone for over 100 kudos!! 8.8 <3 ily all so much. and sincerely, thank you, to everyone who's commented, ever. You guys are really the credit, for me, that someone actually and genuinely likes this story. Sometimes i go back and read them all and almost starts crying bcuz you're all so freaking nice and im a soft lil thang. qwq

After pondering the thought half of the night, Changkyun had realized he might need some help figuring things out. The following afternoon he worked up the courage to head through Jooheon’s bedroom door, finding the older lazing around on his bed with the laptop perched on his lap with headphones on, probably making music as usual. Said person barely grunted a greeting at his entrance, but removed a headphone, and Changkyun didn’t bother waiting for a more enthusiastic welcome before he climbed into the cot besides the elder. This was a normal occurrence for them after all. He was wearing sweatpants and a black t-shirt with his light hair ruffled and hanging over his eyes – obviously having decided to hibernate in his bed for the entire day.

 

“What are you doing?” stalling his initial mission, he looked past Jooheon’s shoulder to see what project the electrokinetic was fiddling with, but saw, for a change, a movie playing on the screen.

 

“I’m watching the new Guardians of the Galaxy,” Jooheon answered with eyes still fixed on the screen and handed the free headphone to Changkyun.

 

“Without me?” Changkyun faked a gasp of hurt, but accepted the offered device. They bickered a bit but eventually fell silent, save for the occasional comment, and Changkyun tried to find a conversationally, _smooth_ way of opening the subject of his – nonexistent – love life.

 

An hour passed with Changkyun thoroughly distracted by his nightly idea from enjoying the film, and in the end he found no easy way in and decided on the more straightforward approach. He paused the movie and turned a bit towards the silver head.

 

“Bro.” _Marvelous start._ “We need to have a serious boy’s talk,” Changkyun stated with a deadpan and looked up at the older from his place on Jooheon’s shoulder.

 

“Uh… ‘Boy’s talk’? What does that even mean?” Jooheon had a skeptical look drawn over his face.

 

“That I need to talk to you. But, like, more seriously,” Changkyun intelligently elaborated, feeling the tips of his ears heat up.

 

“Uh-huh,” Jooheon answered back with an eyebrow raised, obviously not impressed, but smiled and put the laptop aside to give the younger his full attention. “Hit me.”

 

“Okay, so,” Changkyun sat up and folded his legs, scratching his nose while gathering resolution. He concluded that looking anywhere but Jooheon’s eyes was definitely preferable. “There may or may not be someone I like, but most probably _not_ ,” he carefully started, trying to choose his words with care, but found Jooheon interrupting him straightaway.

 

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince _yourself_ more than me about that, bro,” he smirked and Changkyun glared, but tried to move on.

 

“The thing is, I have no fucking clue what to do about it, _potentially or not_ ,” he declared, not being able to help the desperate glint in his eyes.

 

“Okay, that’s nice and all, I think,” Jooheon smiled, “but I think you need to give me just _a little_ more info on the matter dude,” Jooheon skeptically raised his eyebrows in a very _“really dude?”_ kind of way, putting a hand on the younger’s shoulder.

 

“Um, I’ve been thinking for a long time if I see this person as just a friend, or something more,” he tried to build on without giving details.

 

“So this is someone you’re close to,” Jooheon slowly said, looking for a reaction, “and you’re probably wondering whether or not this person reciprocates your feelings. And I’m _just_ assuming you’re afraid of making things awkward,” Jooheon summarized, having puzzled everything together quickly.

 

“Yep, pretty much,” Changkyun agreed, though leaving out the fact that it wouldn’t make it awkward between just him and the person, but for seven people on total. Details.

 

He scratched the back of his neck and then looked at the other’s eyes, hoping for guidance.

 

“I think this’ll be easier if you just tell me who it is, Changkyunie,” Jooheon sighed with a smile, and Changkyun’s response was immediate.

 

“No.” not even blinking.

 

“Can you tell me what gender at least?” Jooheon tried.

 

“Does that matter though?” Changkyun countered, raising his head – not willing to give anything up.

 

“By not telling the gender I’m assuming it’s a guy, since straights™ wouldn’t hesitate to say it’s someone of the opposite gender,” Jooheon pondered.

 

“What kind of fucking logic is that?” Changkyun exclaimed, trying not to laugh.

 

“You’re not denying it though, I see…” the elder said, stroking his invisible beard and doing his best impression of an inquisitive investigator.

 

“Stop! Just, help me goddammit,” Changkyun cried out in fake horror and hid his face in his hands, making Jooheon laugh.

 

“Alright, alright. I’m just trying to gather some more intel. Do I know the dude?”

 

Changkyun hesitated for a second before answering a defeated “yes”.

 

“Ah, so it _is_ a dude,” Jooheon smirked.

 

“Oh shut _up_ ,” Changkyun bent forward and pressed his head into a pillow and Jooheon laughed even bigger.

 

“Okay, so,” he began, seemingly having a plan ready, “you either try to repress your feelings and forget him. Knowing you though, you’ve already tried that, finding out that it wasn’t effective, and is now lost and panicking – which is why we’re having our ‘boy’s talk’.”

 

“Shut up,” was all the younger answered from the pillow, proving the electrokinetic right.

 

“The other alternative is that you try to test the waters out more and more, like, dare to do more and more bold things – if he’s not repulsed by a casual hug; try something a bit more riskier, and then something riskier – until you’ve come to a conclusion,” the older tried coaching.

 

“Oh, he’s _definitely_ _not_ repulsed by a hug,” Changkyun stated dryly from his pillow, but quickly raised his head from it, eyebrows scrunched in despair. “That’s the problem with him though, hyung,” he cried “he’s really touchy, almost beyond what’s considered appropriate for just being friends!”

 

“Well then. I think you’ve already gotten your answer, boy,” Jooheon sagely answered, reaching for the laptop again.

 

“No, no, you don’t understand. He’s like that with _everyone_!” Changkyun exasperatedly countered and Jooheon stopped as if thinking.

 

“It’s a dude… that I know… who’s really touchy, with _everyone_ … beyond what’s considered friendzone,” he went quiet for a couple of seconds before his eyes went wide, mouth hanging open, and he turned to Changkyun, realization written all over his face.

 

Changkyun’s inner voice let out a heartfelt _fuck._

 

“Oh my god, is it-!”

 

“Nooo! Shhh!” he slapped a hand over the other’s mouth, quickly silencing him, Changkyun’s face having turned a lovely shade of tomato red. There shouldn’t be anyone but the two youngest of the clan in the apartment, but Changkyun didn’t want to risk it. The other though, continued his struggling, eyes still blown wide and arms waving and fingers pointing. Changkyun pushed him down on the bed and sat on his stomach, reaching for a pillow with his hyung screaming underneath his hand, though the younger could feel the smile pressed at his palm.

 

“Oh mah fuchingh gooof! Changchyung!!”

 

The wrestling continued for a few minutes, more for the heck of it than anything else, and they both ended up panting on either side of the bed with half of the covers on the floor. Jooheon broke the silence while sitting up, looking at Changkyun’s obviously avoiding eyes.

 

“There’s only two dudes like that and one’s already in a relationship,” Jooheon slowly concluded and Changkyun could hear his grin even though he didn’t see it. He reached for the pillow again and hugged it over his face. Jooheon fell silent.

 

“What am I gonna do, Jooheon?” he said, miserable.

 

The elder sighed, and leaned back on his elbows.

 

“Let’s start with you,” he finally said and got comfortable. “What do you think of him?”

 

“I-,“ he pondered the question for a while before answering, feeling a bit distressed by suddenly spilling his thoughts like this. “He’s someone I trust. He makes me feel,” he paused to find the right word, removing the pillow but now somehow feeling exposed, “…safe,” he finalized and moved the pillow to his chest as a comfort.

 

“I feel comfortable when I’m around him; he’s so strong, selfless and funny and positive – he makes me smile,” he said and then groaned at his own words. “This is so cheesy! What am I even saying?”

 

Jooheon chuckled from his side of the bed and decided to push the other a little, “Okay, do you feel like this with anyone else?”

 

“I mean, yes. Or, I don’t know. Yes?” Changkyun sighed. “I trust you too, and the rest of the clan,” he mumbled and the irritating color began spreading over his cheeks again at the confession. Feelings were definitely not his strong point.

 

“Aww, thank you, I trust you too, Changkyunie,” Jooheon cooed, and if Changkyun’s chest got a little warm; no one needed to know. He smiled a bit. Feelings were nice.

 

“Is there anything else about him?” Jooheon continued his questionnaire.

 

Changkyun looked towards the door and mumbled something.

 

“Sorry? What was that?” Jooheon said, even though his enhanced hearing had already picked up on it, he wanted to tease the other a bit.

 

The younger cleared his throat.

 

“He’s hella hot,” came another, louder, mumble and Jooheon watched the red in Changkyun’s cheeks intensify and spread over the rest of his face and down his neck. Jooheon laughed again and Changkyun chucked the pillow at his face when the older commented “ _cute_ ”.

 

“So, my bro, I think you know what you feel about him,” Jooheon concluded, but saw how Changkyun’s eyebrows furrowed in doubt, looking towards the door in deep thought. _Still_ not convinced.

 

_Why is he always such a hardass?_

 

Jooheon decided to convince the younger of his now honestly _obvious_ feelings for the man.

 

“OK, last question,” he brought Changkyun’s attention towards himself, “Let’s put it in some sort of perspective,” Jooheon suggested. “Would you be okay with him seeing someone else? Imagine him being with another person.”

 

The younger stiffened and his eyes glazed over, becoming still for a few minutes until he looked up at the older again – eyes clear from doubt.

 

_Nope, he definitely didn’t like that._

 

The older smiled at the other in comfort. Changkyun sighed, but looked a bit more determined now.

 

“Hyung, I don’t know what to do though,” Changkyun turned towards him again and sat up, fingers twiddling with the seams of the pillowcase, “I don’t- I _can’t_ make things awkward,” sounding apprehensive he looked at the other.

 

“First of all, you won’t,” he reassured the younger – knowing that the kid would never be able to do anything drastic enough to scare neither the man _nor_ the clan off. “Just try what I told you; maybe _he_ shares skinship with everyone, but you don’t.” It would give clear signals to the older, Jooheon was sure.

 

Changkyun hummed, not seeming completely appalled by the idea.

 

“The worst that can happen if you get too touchy, which, by the way, will be practically impossible, is that you’ve grown a much more intimate relationship with him for future years,” he saw the younger nod, “and that is honestly not such a bad thing for you,” he finalized.

 

“Hey!” the younger exclaimed, looking undignified and pouting, but didn’t really protest.

 

“I’m just stating facts! You can use some more hugs Kkukkungie,” Jooheon laughed and flung the first pillow the younger had thrown at him, hiding his – honestly worried – words with some humor.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m working on it,” the younger admitted and gave the older a small smile of reassurance. “Now,” he said and reached for the laptop, which had ended up on the floor at some point, “let’s get back to Star-lord and company.”

 

-

 

_The coffee on this establishment is as shitty as the directors._

 

That was the thought Om Sanghoon had while walking the bleak corridors of the Warden of Civilian Health and Well-being for the first time with a folder tucked in the crook of his arm, guard leading him through the maze. His polished shoes clicked against the black vinyl floor as he passed different doors and white hallways. He had made sure of being late for the board meeting today as it would allow him to draw the necessary attention towards himself and to be able to use the confusion that would definitely come with his new orders. He had read most of the records, the directors’ profiles and history and had come to the conclusion that they needed a confident leader – a leader who could actually _lead._

 

The old men of the board had grown lazy and bored and too used to the same pattern; leading the same missions without tiring and with the same results every time. The government wanted results. They needed someone with drive, new ideas and _ambition_. And that _someone_ was him. The current directors couldn’t be fired, especially all at once – which would have been preferred. Thanks to having had their positions for such a long time, they’d all built up powerful networks, influence and not to mention _bank accounts_ – in other words; _power_. To boot were they all loyal to the cause, despite their neglect of the duties that came with their positions.

 

So, the government had decided it would be best if someone took over. He’d specifically asked not to be announced before he actually stepped foot on the compound, all to help setting up his position in the council. They would be angry, no matter what the change in their titles might be, but Sanghoon wanted them to focus their anger at each other, rather than him or the government.

 

Opening the frosted glass door to the conference room, he relaxed his shoulders and inched his chin up, current conversation in the room dying out as he stepped through the doorway. Six pairs of eyes watched him from the long table of dark wood, eyebrows creasing in confusion of being interrupted without any premonition.

 

“And you might be?” a bloated man in a dark suit questioned from the left side of the table, irritation evident.

 

“The new chief executive officer, Om Sanghoon,” Sanghoon went for a friendly smile as if everything was in its order.

 

“Excuse me, what?” Another elderly man bit out, leaning forward as to get a better look at the young man standing in front of their table.

 

“Yes, I was sent here by the wish of the government,” Sanghoon said and let his smile falter a little, as if startled by the darkening expressions of the board. “It was a quick process, I must admit, but I’m somewhat surprised at this,” speaking generally about the current atmosphere in the echoing room.

 

“Quick process?” a balding man on the nearest right sneered, face turning red and rigid.

 

“This is outrageous! We haven’t heard anything about having a single man appointed CEO of the entire corporation,” the bloated one exclaimed while standing up in anger.

 

“Now now, Haeseong,” the man next to him tried calming, “I’m sure there’s a _good_ explanation to all of this,” he said while eyeing Sanghoon.

 

_Good, a mediator. He’ll come in handy with turning the others pliant._

 

“May I sit?” he gestured towards one of the empty, plush chairs.

 

“Son, you have to be jesting!” A shorter man with watery eyes and a wrinkled face scoffed from the furthest left. “Tell me who your superior is or I’ll have you fired right here and now for your imbecility. This is not something that can be joked lightly about without repercussions.”

 

“Clearly, there’s been a case of severe communication failure somewhere along the road,” Sanghoon started and reached for his binder under his arm, “but I am neither joking nor taking this lightly, I assure you my gentlemen,” his voice remained polite and professional.

 

He opened the folder and placed it on the table for all of them to see; the contract signed by himself and by four government heads to confirm his new position, completed by the “TOP SECRET” stamp in red that spread over the entire page. There were other documents in the binder, realizing the full extent of his power over the Warden, but only the first paper of the folder was necessary at the moment. He let them read through it carefully, making sure that they wouldn’t miss the “single director of W.C.H.W” part of the agreement.

 

“This-,” a gravelly voice on the right said after finishing reading and looked up at Sanghoon.

 

“I’m as confused as you are, but this contract is binding,” Sanghoon provided, trying to sound sympathetic.

 

_Trust me. I’m on your side, old pigs._

 

“If this is truly binding and coming into effect, what about our positions?”

 

_Bingo._

 

“I’m afraid there’s no mention of the current board remaining in position,” voices around the table rose at his words.

 

_Don’t worry, I’ll be your saving grace._

 

“Gentlemen, I’m sure I can pull some strings to allow you to stay, because as you say; it’s outrageous,” he said levelly, trying to draw their attention towards himself again. “Though I must be frank and say that I can’t promise anything around your continued employment here at the W.C.H.W, but in the best case scenario, some, hopefully all, will be able to stay. If not all, it’s very likely that a selecting process will take place to see who’s most fit for the newly established positions, since you’ve all had more or less the same responsibilities up until now.”

 

_I’m on your side, but none of you are sitting safe._

 

He saw the mediator’s eyes lit up in realization, along with a couple of the others and saw that the first step of his plan had mostly been accomplished at this point. The slower ones would likely soon follow when they realized what exactly would allow them to stay – Om Sanghoon’s favor. As the man who would have to work with any remaining directors, he would of course take part in the selection.

 

“Alright, young man, we’ll have to go through your contract more thoroughly, maybe make some calls to the government, but afterwards we can schedule a meeting to bring you up to speed on recent events?” the mediator said and Sanghoon smiled.

 

_Straight at it I see. He’s a selfish mediator apparently. Or maybe he’s actually just smart._

 

Even though he knew everything about the organization already – past or present events and records – he politely accepted the offer.

 

_Let the hunger games begin._

 

-

 

Shownu walked through the crater of the haven, heading into the long shadow the setting sun cast at this time of the day, reaching halfway at this point. He’d been working at a local autoshop that hired extras around the summer time along with Wonho, and they’d just gotten back from their shift.

 

Wonho had headed for the showers, but Shownu wanted to visit some of his old friends – Jaebum to be specific. Throughout the day, he’d been mulling over the leader council that had taken place the previous day, actually pleased with the changes that had been decided, but worried.

 

Throughout the meeting, Zico – leader of one of the more senior groups – had tried to promote his ideas more than usual. Shownu had, since their first meeting, noticed that the fellow leader was a bit more aggressive with his opinions of the world, and more specifically – the Warden. Where most leaders agreed to lay low and stay in the shadows, Zico tended to encourage ideas of attack and offense. His more direct notions are often easy to shoot down, but charismatic like he is, he is every so often able to manipulate the more easily swayed leaders and Ethereals to actually consider his philosophies. Shownu has seen him on occasion doing it – talking a bit in a corner over there, planting an idea over lunch over here, pulling someone aside to talk during a party and is always among the first to “greet” a new clan welcome – saying that he “wants to give the new leader an introduction to Solar”. He often goes for the younger ones, Shownu’s noticed – the ones who haven’t solidified their beliefs just yet.

 

It’s all very subtle, and contrary to what popular belief is, Shownu is quite perceptive. Being the pacifist that he is, Shownu didn’t like pointing fingers that might stir up problems, and had therefore never pointed Zico’s behavior out. He’s noticed that Jiyong seems aware of Zico’s behavior, and being the highest ranked leader that he is, he usually is quick to pull on Zico’s reins. During the latest meeting, however, Shownu had realized that the older had immediately seen the new development on W.C.H.W’s side as an opportunity for his own gain.

 

Shownu can’t blame Zico for his hostile opinions of the organization though – he’s heard the terrifying rumors of how the leader has had to pull his group, quite literally, from the claws of the Warden among other horrifying things the clan had had to suffer through. The general bitterness towards the Warden among the Ethereals was a fact and Shownu knew that, though thankfully most of his own clan had been spared, with the exception of maybe Changkyun who’d been specifically hunted by them. No matter. They would protect him – no matter what the danger.

 

He pulled a hand through his hair and walked up the little hill that sloped from one of the entrances to the center of Solar. Walking passed the outside corridor, and, too deep in thought, he almost walked into someone who headed around the same corner. He came face to face with a smiling Jaebum who had _clearly_ been aware of his oncoming presence.

 

“Someone’s out of it today,” he smirked, but embraced the other warmly before Shownu even had the time to react. Reciprocating the hug he chuckled a bit.

 

“Yeah, I was thinking about something,” he smiled back at his old friend.

 

“Oh wow, that’s a first,” Jaebum said, raising his eyebrows in feigned surprise.

 

“Shut up Jaebum,” Shownu laughed but soon quieted down. “Actually, I was looking for you. Can we talk?”

 

Sensing the hinted seriousness of the topic, Jaebum nodded and led them down the hall towards the clan’s apartment.

 

“Everyone’s out,” Jaebum told him as they stepped over the threshold to the dormitory, toeing off his shoes.

 

“Great,” Shownu replied, but quickly tried to correct the implication of his answer; “It’s not that I don’t trust the guys, though. They’re great and very relia-,” Jaebum laughed and interrupted him before he could dig himself any deeper.

 

“Hyung. I know what you meant, don’t worry about it,” he chuckled and went over to the fridge and to grab a pair of beers from it while Shownu headed for the couches standing at the right end of the small living room.

 

“So,” Jaebum said when they were seated, “what did you want to talk about?”

 

“Well, it’s actually something that’s been on my mind for quite some time now,” he started, “and it might just be my imagination in best case scenario,” he quietly said while popping the bottle cap off with his thumb nail.

 

“Okay, so what’s been bothering you?” Jaebum asked and leaned back on the couch facing Shownu’s while following the elder’s example and opening the bottle.

 

“I, um, have always had this weird feeling about Zico actually,” he admitted carefully, afraid of stepping on toes, even if it was one of his oldest friends he was talking to.

 

“Block B? Yeah, he gets on my nerves to be honest,” Jaebum easily admitted and took a swig from his beer.

 

_So I’m not the only one after all._

 

“The thing is, the way he speaks about the Warden and what he thinks we should do – it unnerves me,” Shownu confessed while drumming his fingers on his own bottle.

 

“I know exactly what you mean. He’s got too much power and too much anger, and I thought _I_ had problems,” the younger leader chuckled and Shownu joined him – thinking about how violent Jaebum’s temper had been when they were younger.

 

Feeling more confident about Jaebum’s standpoint, Shownu decided to share more of his musings.

 

“I’ve always found his opinions aggressive, but his reaction towards W.C.H.W’s new thing yesterday – well, it might be because I’ve observed him for so long – but I thought he definitely went a bit overboard,” Shownu said and thought of the outrageous proposal of making an attack on the Warden’s base as a response to the drones that had been sent out. Jaebum nodded in agreement and hummed in further confirmation.

 

“And I don’t mean to be judging of anyone’s actions,” Shownu said while taking a sip of the beer, “but I think he’s manipulating other leaders to get more support on his views,” he finally admitted with a low voice. Jaebum met his eyes for a few moments and let the words hang in the air.

 

Finally the younger leaned forward and raked a hand through his hair while sighing. “Honestly, the fact that _you’re_ the one bringing this up, means that it is a problem. I know you Shownu. You don’t say anything unless you’ve thought it through. And the thing is, I’ve been thinking it for some time as well – though I’ve been telling myself that it’s just my imagination,” he said and looked up at the earth elemental, his hand now scratching the back of his neck. “The problem is – the extreme ideas at the meetings are manageable. It’s what he does in the shadows, where nothing is fact, that’s the real problem. You can’t really say anything about it ‘cause there’s no real proof of anything,” he slumped back against the couch again. “I’m guessing this is what’s been bothering you too. The subtlety.”

 

“Yeah. And the most worrying part: what is he trying to do? What is it that he can’t say or do out loud?” Shownu sighed and tilted his head back to take a few gulps from the bottle, hearing Jaebum hum in agreement once more. It went quiet, the air heavy with thoughts.

 

Shownu sighed again. “I’ve kept my guys out of his way, but I don’t know how much other leaders see,” he told the younger, who smiled back.

 

“Oh, they see, don’t worry. Or well, many do. I’m surprised you’re the first one to bring it up though – ‘cause I’ve _seen_ other leaders give him at least a side-eyed glance or a raised eyebrow. Jiyong is obviously in the know,” he raised his eyebrows and looked past Shownu, probably thinking back.

 

“Yeah, I’ve noticed that too. We’re lucky he’s so sharp and able to deflect Zico’s suggestions as easily as he’s been doing,” Shownu said and scratched his chin, feeling a bit calmer about the situation now that he wasn’t alone with these opinions.

 

“So what do we do now?” Shownu asked after a few moments, staring at the green flask and the swirling content within it. He heard Jaebum sigh.

 

“Dunno. We probably can’t do anything. Or, well – continue to observe him of course. Maybe we can be more resisting when he gives ideas?” sounding like he was thinking out loud, more than asking the older now. “Show our dislike for his ideas?”

 

“Yeah, but it’s possible we’ll make an enemy out of him if we do it too strongly. If we do it, we need to be unified and use group dynamics to our advantage in that case. Maybe we’ll be able to pull along stronger oppositions from others, but it is a risk. If he takes it personally and gets seriously pissed, the worst case scenario that’ll happen is that the peace in Solar will be compromised,” Shownu spoke gravely and saw that Jaebum silently agreed. Both fell silent once more, mulling the conversation over and absentmindedly draining the bottles of liquid.

 

“He feels like a ticking time bomb, if I’m being honest,” Shownu finalized after a while and met Jaebum’s eyes, hard with seriousness. The other slowly stood up, and headed for the fridge, pulling another set of beers out. He placed one in front of Shownu on the coffee table and smiled a bit lopsidedly.

 

“We can only speculate at this point,” he said, smiling down at the older. “Let’s not blow it out proportion just yet, like you said, we can’t really do anything about it as it is. Let’s just stay alert to what he does and keep in contact should something out of the ordinary happen, alright?” Jaebum smiled and sat down on the dingy sofa.

 

Instead of answering Shownu just held his new bottle of beer up for Jaebum to meet with his own, returning his smile.

 

“Yeah, sounds good,” he said, and clinked the two bottles together before draining it in one go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> switching it up with the POV's yee \o/ and its an abrupt end, i know i know. i suck at endings lol 
> 
>  
> 
> And i just gotta say - don't be afraid of leaving a comment! :) it doesn't matter what u write, even if it's like "where's the next chapter" or "please post" or anything else mildly threatening lol EVERY comment gives me so much motivation <3


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey ho, i'm back. Once again, the perfectionist in me got its will thru
> 
> IMPORTANT!  
> I'M CHANGING THE TITLE SOON (and as u can see i switched my username too)

“How long before the new assets are operational?” Sanghoon asked the woman, taking a sip from the watery cup of coffee he’d brought with him to the meeting.

 

“Not too long now. Maybe as soon as a month from now,” she smiled, obviously pleased to be able to deliver the good news. He too was pleased by the news, but carefully kept the emotion off of his face.

 

“A month? They need to be functioning as soon as possible, do I make myself clear?” adding an extra layer of severity to help fuel their fear of tardiness and the possibility of facing his fury.

 

“Yes sir,” she meekly replied, clearly startled by his cold response.

 

“Dismissed,” was all he said, looking down at his papers while hearing her hurriedly gathering up her own before exiting the room.

 

_This is going to make everything so much easier._

 

Thanks to the news he almost felt giddy. Much of the physical work the Warden did was running slower than it should be, all thanks to the overpaid muscles the government hired. Their soldiers were more or less mercenaries that would do any job – given, of course, that the pay for it was sufficient – but honestly, they didn’t really have their hearts in their work. Sure, they could aim a gun or wield a taser baton, but they didn’t put in that _little extra_ when out on a job. But with the new assets in their arsenal, Sanghoon’s job of uprooting the mutant colony would run much, _much_ smoother. It would also mean an incredible development for their country in general, and Sanghoon would _love_ to be handed the credit for their breakthrough.

 

Other than this minor hindrance, so far, everything had gone surprisingly unproblematic; his transfer into the business had gone pretty much without a hinge. The previous directors still focused mostly on each other rather than he, and the other residual staff had also more or less accepted him as their new superior. Other than adding to their arsenal, he had also expanded their research division, clearing out the entire basement in the main building for them to work in.

 

He was honest to god curious. He wanted to understand the freaks of nature – what made them run and what made them bleed. They had been observed for years but had mostly noticed only things such as traits, groups, individuals and behaviors. But what were they actually? The W.C.H.W were getting closer and closer but nowhere near enough to call it quits for decades to come. It was actually why he’d been so adamant on getting the job, ever since he’d gotten whiff of the secret organization. _Supernatural beings? In our world? Really?_ Besides, they were a significant threat to humanity _and_ a great opportunity that was just _waiting_ to be taken.

 

While waiting for the assets, he would continue with the sporadic missions to keep both the mercs and the mutants on their toes. And who knows? Maybe they would be able to miraculously progress through an ordinary operation by a sudden stroke of luck. They definitely wouldn’t if they _weren’t_ sent out.

 

-

 

Changkyun had tried to follow Jooheon’s advice to the best of his abilities, but he honestly didn’t know if it was giving any result or not – except for maybe an even clingier Wonho. The older had apparently decided to plaster himself to Changkyun’s side, which meant that Changkyun couldn’t really initiate anything, making every advance he made invisible.

 

At this point Changkyun felt a bit lost about what to do, and thought that maybe he should try the opposite instead – but he honestly didn’t know what that would give either. With an upcoming patrol he didn’t want start avoiding Wonho, probably making things _worse_ by doing so. Not to mention; all the sudden intimacy was making him quite flustered and now, whenever he saw or got close to Wonho, he would unconsciously go slightly stiff due to his overthinking – not knowing what to do anymore – and had probably _already_ made things awkward. He would have to gather up courage to have a boys’ talk with Jooheon again soon.

 

_Sigh._

-

 

One or two weeks had passed since he and Changkyun had gone shopping and Wonho had started approaching the younger more determinedly since then, having decided on being more obvious with showing his affection towards him. To his surprise, the kid had seemed to reciprocate his actions making the older hopeful that _maybe_ , just maybe, Changkyun had noticed something between them as well.

 

Wonho, for once, felt giddy about setting out on patrol as he’d luckily enough gotten paired with the youngest, even if they wouldn’t actually walk together – just close by. No matter. He would take what he could get. Until he found some way of confessing his feelings, without freaking the other out – as he was known to be easily spooked, Wonho was happy just being close to and around the kid. He had a lot of love to give and needed somewhere to dump it all, dang it. Could barely really restrain himself, if he was being honest.

 

Ever since he’d had that honest talk with himself, some dam had just been released; all sense of self-restraint to his urge of being close to Changkyun was somehow just gone with the wind.

 

The latest few days, however, their youngest had been acting a bit different. Instead of a tentatively reaching arm around his back when he put his own arm around Changkyun’s shoulders, the other would stiffen faintly and then a, barely-noticeable, frown would appear – looking deep in thought.

 

It confused Wonho and made him uncertain – maybe he’d frightened him? Or maybe the younger had just taken a sudden step backwards? Yet, he hadn’t really rejected anything the older had done or shown, so Wonho still had hope that things might work out. He would _have to_ talk to Changkyun soon though – this back and forwards-game wouldn’t do anything for either of them in the long run. Maybe he should try to get the younger by himself after breakfast tomorrow to clear things-

 

_Focus. You’re patrolling for goodness sake._

 

Shaking his head, he tried to concentrate on the task at hand. It was late into their afternoon-night shift and Wonho was getting tired. It had been raining more or less constantly the entire week, this day – or night – being no different. To boot, the latest sighting of the W.C.H.W was no less than three days ago, and the thought rested in the back of Wonho’s, or well, probably all of their minds. Thanks to that he felt quite relaxed and to be honest a good bit dreary – wanting to go home as soon as possible. Their exchange was approaching and within 30 minutes or so, the next group would probably arrive.

 

Thinking it was no use saving it for later, Wonho ate his last bar and drank some from his last bottle of water. He toyed around with the rain for some time, creating an umbrella held above him to shield himself from the falling water.

 

Time slowly ticked by and neared midnight, and sure enough, soon he thought he could faintly hear people approaching from the south through the steady pitter-patter of the falling rain. It wasn’t really 12 o’clock just yet and the approaching clan advanced at different speeds it seemed – from what he could judge at least; the rain was making it quite hard for him. He could quite clearly hear someone getting close to Changkyun though – they’d recently been at their closest point of patrolling routes.

 

Slower, measured, more quiet steps, and soft clicking also approached he noticed.

 

From the north.

 

_North?_

 

Eyes widening, he immediately reached for his walkie-talkie with a chill racing down his spine. Trying to keep his voice down while transmitting he pressed the button for Changkyun’s channel.

 

“I.M! Northerners approaching, toward my approximate location,” Wonho held his breath.

 

The subtle noises from outside the forest remained unchanged. The rain would come to be an advantage: even though their hearing was a bit impaired by it, it wouldn’t be able to compare to how it affected their opponents’ senses – both hearing and sight.

 

“Copy that Wonho, just rendezvoused with J-Hope and I’m heading over. I’ll call for more back-up on the way there. I’ll be coming cloaked,” the youngest steady voice filtered through, the walkie-talkie’s volume turned down to the lowest and barely noticeable in the drumming of the rain.

 

Hyungwon was the closest one towards Wonho’s other side and would be the second one to join their front. With Bangtan arriving, they would soon be able to gather the entire X-Clan for a joint attack but also have a back-up if they would need it. The odds were in their favor.

 

_Some luck in the misfortune._

 

“Good, I’ll be acting as diversion,” he whispered into the mic and dropped into a crouch behind a bush that gave him a somewhat clear view of the edge of the forest and the tall grass before it.

 

“Can you hear them?” he decided to ask, just to be sure.

 

“Yeah,” came the breathy answer, Changkyun most likely sprinting towards his position.

 

_Good._

 

It would make things easier. That would mean the younger was aware of the Warden group’s whereabouts outside the forest.

 

The atmosphere seemed to tense up as the seconds ticked by; the calm rain suddenly seemed harsher – colder, and the soft scent of moss and decomposing leaves turned foul in his nose. Everything stilled in the brink of the woods.

 

Suddenly remembering the person coming up behind him, he realized he would have probably little to no chance of sending them a warning, lest of course Hoseok already had thought that far ahead. He gnawed on his thumbnail and prayed to whatever deity listening that _whoever_ would be attentive enough to notice the oncoming threat.

 

The clouds obscured most of what could have been called moonlight, and the pouring rain concealed whatever might’ve been able to break through. The clicking, most probably from guns or other equipment, sounded much closer now and Wonho guessed the grunts were on the edge of the field by now.

 

The hydrokinetic gathered water in preparation, having much to work with thanks to the constant downpour. Another advantage, he supposed. The X-Clan always fought defensively – meaning that they would keep them out of the forest for as long as it was needed until the soldiers deemed the attempt a failure. If the failure included losses or not depended on the occasion, but it most often did not, thankfully.

 

Seeing a sudden movement in the tall grass, Wonho formed his water into a long and thick coil, moving it in front of himself.

 

_One. Two. Three, four… hmm, around 12 of them out of the grass, and from what I can judge, two or maybe three still in it._

 

All of them in one position? Wonho’s chances kept getting better and better it would seem. It wasn’t often they were all lumped together like this, often trying different strategies on how to get people on the inside of the forest, but this would make it easier for Wonho at least. 30 was probably the biggest number of W.C.H.W. soldiers they’d ever been able to count so far on one single occasion, so he wasn’t that worried about his opponents being spread out around the forest. And if they were, they had back-up to deal with them.

 

 _They won’t be able to get through._ He reasoned, the thought calming his nerves.

 

The soldiers moved slowly, with careful steps and guns out and aiming. The ones on the flanks kept lookout towards the sides while the ones in the most forward front focused on the depths of the forest. Twenty meter in, one of the front ones raised his fist to signal a halt, and Wonho could hear him speak to the others.

 

“Heat reading, 1 o’clock, approx. 60-70 meters ahead, behind foliage.”

 

_Well, shit._

 

They had thermal cameras. Wonho sighed and tried to keep the water in front of him as still as possible, not knowing whether or not it would show up on the cameras. Now it would get a bit trickier, and would make Changkyun’s approach pretty futile. As he observed them, he realized that they _all_ had pointed their guns towards him at first when the front man had discovered him. It was a guess, but would seem as if it was only through their guns scope that they had thermal view, and not their helmets, as he’d thought at first glance. Guess he really should take up the mantle of seriously being the diversion.

 

“He seems to be alone. Flank him,” the one in front said, who Wonho guessed was a leader of some sort. Two soldiers from each side slowly began moving forwards, a bit more to the sides to circle around him.

 

_You think I would let you?_

 

He prayed his water would go unnoticed as he gathered up more, divided it into two and steered it towards the pairs, leading it rapidly over the forest floor, keeping it as low as possible. Making it gain speed he aimed for their legs and knocked them out from under them, both pairs apparently having missed the speeding liquid. They landed with dull thuds, though two managed to somewhat balance themselves and thus didn’t completely fall face-first in the muddy underbrush.

 

Then, all hell broke loose.

 

-

 

Even before Changkyun arrived he could hear the gunfire loud and clear – the entire forest probably could. A few minutes earlier he’d felt a spike of either nerves or excitement, it was hard to distinguish, but he pushed the offending feelings aside and instead tried to focus. Stopping behind a tree when figures started becoming distinguishable, he observed the scene. Wonho was currently leading the Warden on a merry hunt, his shape speedily darting around behind trees, under logs and over rocks, dealing blows and water blasts where he could. Suddenly, a couple of the soldiers on his tail stumblingly slowed down and then came to a complete halt, awkwardly bending forward under a heavy weight before dropping their guns to the ground with a loud splash.

 

 _Hyungwon_.

 

Changkyun couldn’t see him, but it was Hyungwon without doubt – he’d called him right after having talked to the second oldest. The umbrakinetic decided he’d examined the scene enough and quietly moved around the soldiers, towards the north. No one from the Warden seemed to have noticed his presence, though he was certain both his clan members had. Changkyun could count 12 soldiers in total, 4 down on the ground, unmoving, 5 at a halt thanks to Hyungwon – closer towards Wonho’s position – and the three remaining ones hung back at the rear of the squad, acting backup. They seemed to be considering moving forward to join the fray in the dark, but Changkyun didn’t want to let them. When they began stepping forward so did Changkyun; he quietly stalked behind them, concealed by the darkness he was cloaked in, while they were entirely focused towards the front.

 

 _Idiots._ He thought, because it was honestly such an amateur thing to do.

 

He knew that as soon as he touched either one of them, the others would react. And because they were wearing helmets, keeping them quiet would become tricky, if not actually impossible. Luckily though, they moved in a spear shape, which meant it would be easier to pluck ones on the sides first. He determined that going for the closest one would be the simplest, even though the soldier on the left definitely was taller than Changkyun.

 

Reducing the distance between them to half a meter, he walked in the soldier’s footsteps at the same pace, both a literal and a figurative shadow in the rainy night. The youngest on the field held his breath and heard his adrenaline-raised pulse throb in his ears as he prepared to jab the soldier in the ribs. Without warning said grunt spun around and backhanded a surprised Changkyun with the barrel of his gun.

 

_What the-_

 

The blow made his jaw and neck ache, taking a step to balance himself, but only temporarily stunted him. He was quick to gather his wits and swung back with a feint to the right before jabbing his foe in the ribs on the left as he’d originally planned. A soundly crack could be heard through the loud rain and the soldier let out a strangled wheeze but thankfully nothing more as he sank to his knees in pain while clutching his side. He knew they wore kevlar, so he hadn’t held back too much and Changkyun hoped the loud downpour had muffled his voice so he wouldn’t get noticed just yet. He then hastily tried to knock him out by hitting him in the head, but found that he didn’t quite do it as the man only fell to the side with a splash before trying to get up once more. _Crap._

 

That punch he’d _actually_ pulled, not wanting to accidentally harm the guy worse than necessary, but now had to pay the price for it. The loud crack of bullets in close range was deafening to his sensitive ears, and Changkyun quickly dived down behind the grunt on the ground, now standing on all fours, to seek shelter from the projectiles. Over the butt of the soldier, he could now see both Wonho _and_ Hyungwon, fighting the other 5 more or less hand-to-hand; the soldiers having armed themselves with their tasers – a long rod with undeniably far stronger current than what normal ones had.

 

And then, everything happened very fast.

 

Hyungwon had noticed Changkyun’s struggle and rushed over to help, immediately using his gravity control to drag the guns from the soldiers’ hands. At the same moment, a person – an Ethereal – blinked into existence at the back of the fight. Changkyun turned in the same instant, not because of the newly arrived individual, but because of the new set of footsteps behind him that unmistakably belonged to more soldiers. What he saw next was Jungkook’s surprised face as a soldier sprinted up behind him and grabbed him around his neck, gun pointed at his head. And then Changkyun realized how the soldier had discovered him during his attempted attack – his opponent hadn’t been a newbie, he just knew that he’d had back-up to support him.

 

_How could I have missed them?!_

 

“Hyungwon!” Changkyun shouted to get him to pull their guns as well, but realized that said man was occupied fighting the two grunts from before. He saw the teleporter struggle against the hold both the soldiers at his side had on him, but already looked to be running short on oxygen, strangled noises escaping his mouth as he coughed. Changkyun felt panic welling up in his chest – what should he do? He couldn’t black-hole the trio, afraid of accidentally getting Jungkook dragged into it too, but as he hesitated one second too long, the one not holding the kid by his neck moved his finger to the trigger. Changkyun’s body reacted on its own, answering to the panic spreading uncontrollably, and threw himself towards the Ethereal.

 

A stream of water shot through the air in rapid speed, aimed at the heads of the two soldiers struggling with Jungkook, and seemed to disappear at first contact with them. At once Changkyun realized what Wonho was doing – confirmed by the sudden gurgling noises the two made as they released Bangtan’s youngest, clawing at their own throats.

 

Catching a practically unconscious Jungkook, Changkyun distanced himself and the teleporter from the struggling enemies who now collapsed to the ground. The gunshots from before were still ringing in his ears and made everything now seem muted and distant. Somewhere behind the whole ordeal, lightning cracked in the forest – signaling Jooheons’ arrival – and a few soldiers quickly retreated towards the brink of the forest. They were followed by another W.C.H.W soldier – flying through the air – landing somewhere on the muddy ground before the grassy field, Changkyun bewilderedly watching with a groggy Jungkook in his arms. A furious Yoongi stomped out from behind trees, bringing along some of the unconscious soldiers with his telekinesis, and more or less threw them the same way they had originated from. He had probably been lured here by Jungkook’s emotional state, very likely abandoning his post in his rage. The remains of the Warden squad quickly scrambled to follow their retreating group, dragging along the remaining unconscious ones with them.

 

Turning back to observe the events happening before him, Changkyun watched as the hydrokinetic stepped closer to his opponents whose struggles by now had lessened. Once they finally stilled, Wonho pulled his hand back to drain the water from their lungs, the one towards the right immediately beginning coughing and hacking to desperately draw fresh breaths of air. The one on the left however, remained still.

 

Wonho stopped mid-step to stare at the man on the ground, eyes wide in realization, and Changkyun could feel the change of his elder’s whole demeanor like a ripple going through the air. Suddenly, the hot rush of victorious adrenaline went dead and cold, and something quite the opposite came to replace it – regret.

 

Before either of them could ponder the now shockingly grim situation, Yoongi had made his way over and started lifting all three soldiers in their vicinity, dumping them somewhere out on the field with little care. Still holding Jungkook, who now was conscious – although groggy and disoriented, Changkyun became Yoongi’s next target on his path. The telekinesis’s face turned a bit softer when his eyes landed on the disoriented kid, an odd mix of concern and relief flashing on his face. The umbrakinetic nodded a stiff greeting, and he felt himself how bewildered he probably looked at the moment, the past five minutes feeling like a whirlwind in his mind. He let Yoongi take the burden from his arms and felt dreary exhaustion and damp coldness embrace him, the rain still pelting down without mercy. He could still hear the W.C.H.W, but they seemed to be regrouping to abort the mission – at least as far as Changkyun’s muddled mind could tell. 

 

“You guys can go on and head home, we got this now,” Yoongi told the both of them, voice sounding grateful, but far away in Changkyun’s ears, without giving them any other form of greeting. The X-Clan’s youngest uncertainly looked towards Jungkook, whose eyes were closed as he clung to Yoongi. 

 

“We can stay and help with-“ Changkyun began arguing but got cut off, watching as the teleporter seemed to mumble something to his partner who only pulled him tighter and rubbed his back.

 

“You will probably only get in the way. You’re all tired and wounded, plus, your shift ended like 20 min ago,” he added with a hint of humor, trying to lessen the tension. At the mention of injuries, Changkyun dully how his jaw still ached and noted how the rain on his right cheek was warm, not cold, and when he looked at his hand after having touched said cheek, it came back red. Must have happened when the soldier had hit him.

 

“Go home, we got this.”

 

He ushered both of them away after Jungkook had said his thanks for being saved, and they made their way towards the patrol path where Jooheon stood, supporting Hyungwon, who leaned heavily on the other. As it was, the whole X-Clan had gathered in the area, Kihyun immediately setting to work on Hyungwon when he reached him. Before, when he’d disarmed all the soldiers of their guns, they’d instead fought with their magnified tasers, and Hyungwon – who only could focus his powers on so many things, had taken quite a few hits. When Kihyun carefully opened his coat and gently inched his polo up, big, angrily red burn-like marks became visible, shifting purple and almost black in some places.

 

They were all quiet, the atmosphere heavy even though they had been the victors, and weariness was obvious on everyone’s faces and postures; even on the ones who hadn’t fought appeared drained. The rain had seeped through his coat hours ago and Changkyun was cold – all the way through to his bones, both physically and mentally. He found it was one of the few times he would honestly admit that he, without embarrassment, could ask for a warm hug, and turned to the one he sought after the most at the moment. Wonho, however, was on his way of picking a half-healed gravity controller up, Kihyun having decided it safe enough to move Hyungwon now and by doing so they would be getting the clan out of the rain sooner.

 

Changkyun fought back the sting of exhausted tears – feeling downright miserable at the moment – and began trekking back with the members. For once he’d had no inhibitions to ask for something as simple as some warmth from a hug, only to have the request shot down before he’d even gotten the chance to ask – too bitter now to be feeling up to asking any of the others for the favor. He felt like a whiny 3 year-old who’d missed his nap and now had been denied ice cream, wanting nothing more than to lay down on the mud and cry in self-pity. But then again, he was too mature and proud, and too intelligent – knowing it wouldn’t help him in the slightest to even whine about the situation. And then he felt guilt; he was by far the _last_ person who needed to be pitied and coddled with at the moment. So, he walked on, massaging his swollen and aching jaw, dreaming of the soft warmth of his _heavenly_ bed.

 

-

 

Changkyun blearily opened his eyes to the darkness of his bedroom with an uneasiness in his gut – not like he’d eaten anything bad, but more like a dull ache of hollowness or a general discomfort. His clock showed little over 3 am and his eyes stung with exhaustion, but it seemed that no matter how he tossed and turned, the gnawing unease in his mind wouldn’t let him fall back asleep. After restlessly lying in bed for a couple of minutes more in pure stubbornness, he gave up all hopes on falling asleep any time soon and headed for the kitchen, adjacent to the living room, in the hopes of that maybe a glass of water or milk could help settle the feeling. Softly stepping on the cool floor, he quietly made his way towards the cabinets to reach for a glass. Pouring up a glass of water from the tap he leaned against the sink.

 

He shouldn’t have woken up until late morning, given the turbulent and exhausting patrol the clan had finished – especially since he’d fallen asleep little over one and a half hour ago. He rubbed his stinging eyes and took a sip, hoping that the uneasiness would settle with the water. It suspiciously enough reminded him of the lump of anxiety that sometimes settled in the pit of his stomach, but it felt strangely disconnected from him; like it wasn’t his own. A detached wave of nausea crashed over him and made the water in his mouth taste sour.

 

Not feeling up to finishing his water anymore, he poured the liquid out and placed the glass on the edge of the sink, making a mental note to remember to do the dishes the following morning. It was when he slowly began making his way towards his room again that he first heard it – muffled sobs coming from behind a closed door.

 

At the end of the living area, where the cluster of bedrooms were, quiet sniffles emitted from the room across his own – Wonho’s.

 

How could he possibly have missed that on his way to the kitchen? More importantly, what should he do now? He had walked quietly enough that the older probably hadn’t noticed that he was awake, so he could technically head back for his room and pretend he hadn’t heard a thing since the hydrokinetic usually wanted to cry alone – should he just keep walking?

 

However, the horrible feeling got worse the closer he got to Wonho’s bedroom, and he felt suffocating guilt embrace him from all sides. He couldn’t just leave him like that. But wouldn’t he get angry? Maybe he would become even more upset if Changkyun saw him.

 

A particularly loud sob was heard and then some very, very softly spoken words.

 

_“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”_

 

Screw it. If there were something – _anything –_ he could do to help his hyung, he would try – sleep be damned.

 

His heart was beating hard when he raised his hand to the elder’s door to knock. Tapping it lightly he didn’t wait for an answer before he cracked the door open, afraid of losing what little courage he’d managed to gather. Wonho’s crying became clearer to his ears even though the older man obviously had his face pressed into his pillow to try and muffle the sobs.

 

“Wonho?” He whispered, voice still a bit raspy from recently waking up. “Can I come in?” he carefully asked.

 

The other became quiet for a few moments and Changkyun braced himself for the rejection to come. This had been a stupid idea. Of course Wonho would like to be alone when he was crying, he always does. Why would this time be any different?

 

He was surprised when a cracked “yeah” answered him from the bed. Not knowing what else to do he entered the room and closed the door behind him before he stepped towards the bed. What now? He hadn’t planned ahead what to do if he was actually allowed inside.

 

He should tell him that it was okay; that he hadn’t had a choice in the forest, that it was the Warden’s fault, because _it was_ – all of it. Changkyun knew _exactly_ how he felt – his own powers having made some rash decisions for himself from time to time with some very unfortunate outcomes after every incident.

 

Hesitating for a few seconds, still uncertain about what to really do next, he decided on starting with what he knew  _usually_  made the elder feel better. He stopped beside the bed and sat down at the middle, feeling the eyes of hydrokinetic follow him the entire time. Without further ado, Changkyun leaned down over the lump under the covers and tried hugging him as much as the awkward position allowed him to. Said lump under the covers stilled, save for the slightly accelerated breathing the crying had caused. He pressed his cheek against the soft bedspread that covered the meaty slope of Wonho’s bicep, and the heavy scent of tears mixing with laundry detergent filled his nose. Despite the awkward position, Changkyun surprisingly enough felt quite comfortable, his heart rate slowing down to something a bit on the more normal range.

 

 _He’s stopped crying at_   _least._

 

He supposed he should explain why he’d rudely intruded on both the elder’s privacy and his personal space.

 

“I heard you crying and I didn’t want you to feel alone,” Changkyun quietly murmured, going for the most honest approach he could.

 

The lump underneath him slowly began moving and turning under the comforter, now lying more on his side than his stomach. Changkyun thought he would be okay with getting pushed away, even if it would be disappointing, since he’d actually tried to help – and that counted _at least_ as a personal victory, even if he might not succeed with his initial mission.

 

_Jooheon would be proud._

 

He was surprised, however, when Wonho’s bare arms slipped free from the duvet and wrapped themselves around the younger’s shoulders and upper back to return to the hug. Changkyun in term found himself maneuvering his hips and legs onto the bed to avoid the uncomfortable position he’d put himself in, lying on the covers face to face to the light haired man now. He smelt strongly of salty tears, something undefinably Wonho that was light and brisk, and very faintly of the musky cologne he frequently used – the combined scents quite intense this close up.

 

For a few minutes they lay in silence in the darkness, studying each other’s features in the almost pitch black room with only their steady heartbeats, quiet breaths and Wonho’s occasional sniffles disturbing it. If he really sharpened his ears, Changkyun could faintly make out both Kihyun and Hyungwon’s light snores coming from the room next door – Kihyun having decked right after finishing healing the lanky man in his bed. Unlike most of the others in the clan, Changkyun rarely shared beds with any of them, and most of the few times it had happened it had been with Jooheon. On those occasions it had typically occurred because of the two of them staying up late to work on their music projects or watching movies and then falling asleep eventually.

 

But instead of the nervousness Changkyun had expected to feel, he felt completely calm in the other’s embrace, and once again surprised himself by reaching a hand up to Wonho’s face and wiping away some of the drying tears from the taller’s cheek with his thumb, letting his hand rest there. Wonho held his gaze as he slowly, as if asking for permission, lifted his own hand to place over Changkyun’s, clasping it gently.

 

Changkyun’s heart took a leap. He exhaled a bit shakily and smiled at Wonho, who returned it with one of his own warm ones. The small gesture felt like it confirmed so much, and Changkyun felt the familiar warmth of absolute soul-filling calmness and relaxation spread through his chest, feeling light and tingly all the way out through his fingertips but so entirely grounded at the same time.

 

He didn’t want to disturb the fleeting moment, nor the brief distraction he’d brought Wonho – whose tears now had stopped entirely, eyes dazed and tired now more than anything. Thinking back to the last time he’d tried comforting the older with questions, Changkyun swallowed down whatever words that had come to mind while entering the room and settled for just bringing him some physical comfort instead. He stroked his thumb over Wonho’s cheek once again, slower this time, drawing an undistinguishable pattern and felt, more than saw in the darkness, the hand move from his hand and to the younger’s jaw. Gently, Wonho stroked the back of his hand over the swollenness that still lingered from the blow he’d received, furrowing his brow at the feel of the slight bump. He then brought his hand to the back of Changkyun’s neck, not needing to urge the kid more than that to lean his head forward, their foreheads now touching lightly. Wonho sighed, in what sounded as contentment or relief or maybe both, and closed his eyes, hand now resting on Changkyun’s back once more.

 

Changkyun’s mind was blanking, never expecting to experience a situation like this with the older man. His “normal” self would have been freaking out long before even sitting down on the bed, much less being as bold as to lie down and somehow putting the older to sleep – or probably _soon_ asleep – judging by the slowing, deep breaths Wonho was taking.

 

The stifling unease he’d felt earlier – recognized as guilt – had under his visit to the taller dispersed, smothered by affection swelling in his heart. Wonho’s eyes were a bit swollen from all the crying, his nose as well, but with his eyes closed and brow unfrowned he looked to be at complete peace, with the appearance of an elegant prince – lips parted slightly to breathe through as his nose was most likely clogged, lilac hair cascading in an unfairly graceful arc given the circumstances and long lashes brushing his high cheek bones.

 

Wonho’s breaths had turned slow and even, signaling that he had finally been able to rid himself of enough brain ghosts to fall asleep. Changkyun carefully treaded his fingers through the light hair, brushing it away from the elder’s eyes and sighed.

 

Here, in the safety of his element – the quiet darkness of Wonho’s bedroom, and surrounded by the comforting scent of the older, he felt at peace. Untouchable. Strong. Safe. Like the outside world didn’t exist – didn’t matter. Darkness always brought a sense of safety and protection with it, as if words spoken in blackness would somehow be more difficult to hear, more private than if said in daylight. And in the same way a blanket gave a child a pretend shield from monsters under their beds, Changkyun always felt like the thickness of the shadows wouldn’t let anything through to harm him. He felt like he could do anything at this point – feeling invincible.

 

Thus, it only took a little tilting of his head to lift his lips to Wonho’s forehead, trying to pour everything he felt for the man through the affectionate gesture, noses brushing lightly when he moved away.

 

And then Changkyun cringed internally, as he realized what he’d done, all resolution and dauntlessness vanished along with the broken connection between them.

 

Okay, that had been _way_ over the line. He should’ve just left when the other had fallen asleep, now feeling like he’d overstayed his visit. He’d already made some form of unspoken progress in his relationship with the older tonight – which _should_ have been more than enough for him.

 

_Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. That was a stupid move._

 

Feeling irritated with himself and not wanting to linger any longer with his object of guilt he began to remove himself from the hydrokinetic’s hold, careful not to disturb the obviously hard-won sleep. He slowly scooched backwards, then tried to lift the arm over his back without waking him, to place it besides the elder. Except the muscles in the strong arm around him tensed and brought him closer, with the one beneath his ribs helping in pulling him back in, closer towards the sleeping man once more.

 

“Stay,” Wonho sleepily mumbled, and Changkyun’s heart hammered in his chest.

 

_Had he been awake?!_

 

“Please stay,” his elder softly added, the plea sounding a bit offhand and more like an afterthought though.

 

_Did he know?!_

 

Squeezing his eyes shut, Changkyun’s mind was racing and his cheeks burning. This was not what was supposed to happen! How could he been so reckless and stupid? 

 

“Wonho, I-!” words coming out a bit squeezed with the embarrassment he felt, getting cut off immediately by a gentle tone.

 

“Shh, go to sleep,” Changkyun practically hearing his smile.

 

Quieting down any further protests or stumbling apologies, Wonho secured his hug around the younger, and pressed his own soft peck to Changkyun’s forehead before proceeding to tug the comforter out from beneath the shorter to cover him in.

 

“Don’t think. You think too much,” the taller told him with a drowsy smile, eyes still closed.

 

“I, you-,” he began but found that he hadn’t anything to really say, his nervousness now beginning to mix with relief.

 

_He wasn’t upset._

 

“It’s easy for you to say,” Changkyun decided to flippantly say instead, the tentative beginnings of a smile threatening to break out on his lips.

 

_He hadn’t even reacted._

 

A sudden yawn caught him off guard and all at once felt how infectious the elder’s exhaustion actually was – now that both of them were calming down. At this point he was too tired to think over of how readily he accepted Wonho’s response towards his action; all immediate worries already placated by a few simple words and some movements from the other, and decided with a fond sigh to comply with the request and placed a bent arm under the pillow he was occupying to get more comfortable.

 

“Whatever you say,” Wonho replied, words getting quieter and quieter, slurring a bit with a sleep heavy tongue, but demonstratively grasped and placed Changkyun’s arm on his side just beneath his ribcage to make sure his message had hit home, and shifted slightly under the covers to settle in further. “We can talk tomorrow.”

 

“Mhm,” Changkyun hummed in agreement, his own eyes now fluttering closed, chest now settling down and filling up with the comfortably warm and tranquil sensation once more.

 

Unbeknownst to them, their steady hearts aligned sometime after falling asleep, the synchronized rhythm signaling that finally, _finally,_ their souls had made it home _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally.
> 
> see you in the next one


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay, this chapter was like pulling out teeth istg + ya girl got herself a job so that's been taking up a lot of my time too. It’s currently 1:40am and I need to get up in a couple of hours but I just needed to get this damn ch posted lol
> 
> Anyway! I hope you enjoy!

Wakefulness came slowly to Changkyun, like a slow ascend to the water’s surface, completely at peace in the warm and comfortable limbo he currently was in. He probably wouldn’t have woken up at all if it wasn’t for the disturbance that was stirring him awake; a hand – gently carding through his hair, brushing it away from his forehead, and then a pair of soft lips pressed at the newly exposed skin.

 

_Oh? Right._

 

The room was still covered in darkness when Changkyun’s eyes fluttered open, mumbling a raspy, unintelligible greeting, earning himself an airy chuckle.

 

“Good morning to you too, Changkyunie,” Wonho’s morning-gruff voice greeted him. The petting of his hair continuing in a slow pace, and Changkyun nestled his head further into the taller’s neck – content with staying in the radiating warmth of the other for the rest of the day. He unhurriedly drew his fingertips up and down Wonho’s clothed back, feeling the lines of the muscles underneath and the seams of whatever the older was wearing – most likely one of his sleeveless t-shirts, considering his arms being bare.

 

Changkyun felt… giddy. It had been a long time since he’d last slept this well, and more and more of the events from the night before was starting to come back to him, and now – basking in the warm wakeup call he’d received – he smiled, dumbly and widely, dimples and teeth both making an appearance, not being able to help the small giggle from escaping either.

 

_Why did I ever deny myself this?_

 

Another chuckle rumbled in the hydrokinetics chest. “Did you sleep well?” Wonho inquired softly with a toothy smile of his own that turned his eyes into slits, moving his head backwards to look down on the younger. Meeting the elder’s eyes, he saw, or maybe felt, the pure, unaltered adoration that they carried and lost his breath for half of a second, and then allowed himself to relish in it – never having felt more right in his life.

 

_I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be._

 

He ducked his head a bit before returning the bright smile a bit shyly, once more meeting Wonho’s attentive gaze on him.

 

“Mm,” his rough, though obviously content voice grumbled, the gentle hand coming down to caress his cheek, leaving Changkyun in some form of affection-induced haze that oozed out from the other. Cloying the air with it – filling up Changkyun’s lungs, his head, his entire being like some form of drug.

 

_If this is what doing drugs’ like, I would get high every day._

They fell into a comfortable silence and Changkyun relaxed in the steady thrum of contentedness that enveloped him in the dark room along with Wonho’s loose hold around him, ankles intertwined.

 

 _“When did that happen?”_ he wondered absentmindedly, and then, tilting his head back to indicate that he wanted to say something, he pushed forth everything he’d woken up to into his smile, deciding on trying to use his words for once. Try to openly display _exactly_ what was going through his head for once, instead of having it filter out through his actions and expressions.

 

“I’m…”

 

He stopped, searching for the right word to summarize precisely what he was feeling at the moment, landing on probably the most ineloquent and childishly straightforward one, though finding that it described him perfectly at the moment.

 

“…happy,” he stated simply, feeling a bit silly at saying it out loud. The word unmistakably implied _everything_ and all of it, not really needing to elaborate more seeing how Wonho’s eyes lit up, and felt the heartbeat that had pulsed evenly against his own take a leap – the message and the step forward that the younger had made an effort into taking registering, reading him like an open book.

 

Waves of warmth and… was it perhaps pride? It was a bit hard to distinguish, but the emotions calmly washed over him, making him feel like he was practically glowing in the dark room. Wonho curled his form around the younger a bit more, resting his chin atop of Changkyun’s head.

 

“Me too Changkyun.”

 

-

 

They apparently snoozed off sometime after that, since they didn’t notice when the door across the bed was pushed open, revealing a stressed-out Kihyun standing in the entrance, with prominent dark rings beneath his eyes and hair still sleep-mussed.

 

“Wonho!” He yelled, startling both residents of the bed awake and the older one groaned in discontent.

 

“Changkyun’s gone and no one’s seen him all morni-,” and there he cut himself off, discovering the dark blue hair of said missing person lying peacefully on a pillow in the taller’s bed, groggily blinking towards him.

 

“Oh,” was all he said after a few moments of quietness, his typically impish smirk slowly growing on his lips before he quickly disappeared through the door again.

 

“Kihyun don’t!” Wonho yelled after him, halfway up and over Changkyun, but to no avail as they could already hear the healer from the living room saying that he’d found the youngest. Looking down at Changkyun, he slumped down again, smiled and brushed a hand through the dark hair once more, becoming addicted to the soft feeling of it, fondly recalling the boldness of the other during the night before.

 

He felt very proud over how it had been _Changkyun_ – and not himself – who had taken the first step. Or well, the first _real_ step so to speak. The first step that was _there_ – out in the open, a step you could talk about, not just wonder about if it had actually meant something or if it was just your hopeful imagination. And then what had transpired a couple of hours ago.

 

 _“My brave little trooper,”_ he thought fondly.

 

“Maybe you should hide before they get here,” Wonho suggested, smile turning into a grin. The younger didn’t answer immediately, apparently not awake enough to really register the embarrassment he probably should be feeling, but pulled the cover over his head, making Wonho chuckle. It was only then that he could be heard grumbling about the situation.

 

“It’s too early for Kihyun’s shit.”

 

Wonho laughed and patted, where he at least guessed, the top of the shorter’s head was in sympathy.

 

The light from the living room got obscured when a collective of 5 heads peered in through the doorway, curiosity shining in their eyes.

 

“Changkyun?” Jooheon called in a sing-song tone, smile ghosting his lips in amusement.

 

“Mm,” the person in question answered from beneath the comforter, not feeling up to feed their glee more than necessary.

 

“Man, we thought you died or something. We didn’t even hear you breathe, dude,” Jooheon said, very seriously, as if they really had believed that the younger had died.

 

“’m fine. Now go away” Changkyun assured hearing Jooheon bark with laughter, quieting down when a sudden shout of revelation came from the pyrokinetic.

 

“Oh my god! Guys! That would mean they were breathing in sync! That’s so cute!” Minhyuk excitedly exclaimed.

 

“You’re right! Otherwise we would’ve heard that there were two people in here!” Hyungwon concluded, sounding unusually awake for this hour of the day.

 

Wonho heard Changkyun grumble beneath the duvet again and decided to try and steer the conversation elsewhere.

 

“In anyway, is breakfast ready yet?” Wonho intercepted the chatter, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

 

“We’re working on it,” Shownu said, giving Wonho a smile, and started herding the members from the doorway, grabbing poor Jooheon by the shoulders to use as a battering ram to shovel the others away and out into the living room. Indignant shouts of protest arouse which he only quieted with orders about continuing with the breakfast.

 

“They’re idiots. I love them, but they’re idiots. All of ‘em,” Changkyun stated quietly and started to remove the covers from his face. Wonho honestly couldn’t agree more.

 

-

 

The awkwardness of the breakfast that ensued made Changkyun want to crawl back into the darkness again – the amused, knowing smiles, the looks thrown at the pair and the normally rowdy chatter around the table was somewhat animated and bit stifled. No questions were asked, most likely out of, _strained_ , respect – Minhyuk looking pretty much ready to pounce on them, and general curiosity and questions hung in the air. Wonho had quickly grabbed the youngest hand when they’d gotten dressed and ready for the day, and had then promptly dragged an unresisting Changkyun out from the apartment to escape the thick atmosphere.

 

The younger reveled in the physical connection between them, though felt a bit overwhelmed about how all his little wishes that he’d secretly been having for such a long time were being fulfilled one by one in a rapid pace. Changkyun noticed that Wonho had a slight spring in his step as they walked through the winding corridors of the Haven – no doubt heading for the crater – cheeks round from the smile he was wearing, and was often changing his hold around him; apparently not being able to decide how to make the most of their walk. The umbrakinetic boy couldn’t find it in himself to protest nor resist as he enjoyed it just as much, and more or less just complied to whatever Wonho decided as there was no one around to see them anyways.

 

The air was still a bit chilly and damp after the previous night, the sun not yet high enough to warm the center of Solar, but the rainclouds that had hung heavy for the past week had dispersed during the night at least, the sky instead dotted with occasional tufts of white. Wonho pushed the morning dew away as they decided to settle down on one of the rocky outcroppings a few meters away from the steadily flowing stream. He pulled Changkyun down into his lap while leaning back on the boulder behind him, looping his arms around the kid’s midsection. Changkyun stretched out his legs and leaned his head back on Wonho’s shoulder, relaxing fully, even though the stone beneath him was hard and uneven. He placed his elbows on Wonho’s bent knees, fiddling with the elder’s nimble fingers.

 

They stayed that way for some time, just enjoying the lull of the morning and the other’s company, the crater still devoid of almost any other people as it was the weekend now. Wonho’s burly chest and toned arms were warm around him – his own muscles aching and stiff from the patrol – chasing off the nippy air, and making him drowsy.

 

The ease of which they’d just molded together, not to mention at such a quick speed, surprised Changkyun, though nothing seemed out of place or strange or new with the changed, undefined relationship between them – everything merely falling into place as it would appear.

 

Wonho eventually broke the silence, speaking about everyday things – his opinion on the new brand of protein powder he’s trying, how soft Changkyun’s black sweater was, that the birds had a nest in tree to their second left and how he’d recently spent more time with Donghyuk from Ikon. After a few minutes of idle chatter he steered the subject towards the two of them.

 

“Can I ask you something?”

 

“Mm, sure,” Changkyun said, eyeing the birds flying to and fro their supposed nest.

 

“Since when did you like me?” Wonho inquired, sounding extremely curious.

 

“Oh, um, I don’t know actually. I just noticed it after a while I guess,” he answered truthfully, his cheeks tinting a bit red.

 

“But a long time then?” Wonho wanted to know.

 

“I- well,” he started.

_“Is this really important?”_ he wanted to whine.

 

“Since before Solar,” he shyly mumbled finally.

 

Wonho seemed to contemplate this for a few moments before gently asking; “Why did you never say anything?”

 

“I couldn’t. It just seemed a bit-,” there he stopped himself. He had almost said “selfish”, but didn’t want to turn the conversation towards his insecurities, not entirely comfortable with nor ready to discuss his heavy thoughts.

 

“A bit…?” Wonho prodded, Changkyun having been lost in his thoughts for a while.

 

“I just didn’t want to make things awkward,” Changkyun settled for quietly, playing with Wonho’s fingers again, giving him half the truth.

 

“You thought you would make things awkward?” seeming both surprised and a bit amused. Changkyun’s cheeks flamed – it sounded even more ridiculous when he heard it coming from the other’s mouth.

 

“Yeah…” voice small because of the embarrassment he couldn’t quell. What Wonho said next though, took Changkyun by surprise.

 

“Hmm… Have you ever thought of _why_ exactly Hyungwon’s father sometimes beat him?”

 

Not prepared for the question, Changkyun answered the first thing that came to mind.

 

“Cause his dad was a piece of shit? No, I don’t know,” he blankly stated, Wonho’s chest rumbled against his back as the older laughed.

 

“That too,” he agreed, and calmed down before he continued: “Hyungwon was dating Minhyuk.”

 

“… Oh. So, a homophobic piece of shit.”

 

“Yeah, Hyungwon’s bi actually. I’m sure you can ask them about their past if you want to,” he said and Changkyun hummed. “Anyways, what I wanted to say was; neither they nor we are awkward about it – see my point?”

 

“Yeah, I do, but that didn’t help me back then! I didn’t know about it until now,” he crossed his arms and then decided on retaliation when Wonho chuckled again.

 

“Well, what about yourself?! Why didn’t _you_ say something?” Changkyun demanded in indignation.

 

“Thought I’d scare you off,” Wonho answered with honesty.

 

“You mean… you waited? For me?” the umbrakinetic questioned, not being able to hide his surprise.

 

“Well, yeah,” he answered as if it was obvious.

 

Changkyun’s chest warmed and they fell silent again, both lost in thought until Changkyun couldn’t bear it anymore. He had to get answers to his most burning question – now or never.

 

“Wonho,” he started, “When did you notice…” thinking about how to formulate himself without sounding like he was jumping to conclusions, should he actually be wrong about his hypothesis.

 

“…or have you, noticed – you know, _us_ ,” he said slowly, trying to vaguely indicate what he really was talking about. “As in, more than just… … _harboring_ feelings?”

 

A spark of hope was sent towards him simultaneously as Wonho’s beating heart took a leap against his back.

 

“Yeah,” Wonho confirmed in an exhale. “Yeah, I’ve noticed… _something_ … more, between us…” apparently not daring enough to give it an official name, though his tone was light. But Changkyun didn’t need a clearer answer and turned half around to catch the others’ gaze.

 

“So you also think that maybe we’re …” he trailed off. The situation somehow felt so fragile, as if uttering the word would shatter it.

 

 _“This is getting ridiculous._ ” He thought, but couldn’t compel himself to complete the sentence nonetheless, the older looking expectantly at him for confirmation before opening his own mouth to speak.

 

“Soulmates,” Wonho finished lightly, and there it was – confirmed and assured, nothing left to question, proved by the sudden rush of exhilarating emotions colliding and exchanging between them, making them gasp at the shared experience.

 

Changkyun met Wonho’s intense and wide-eyed gaze, realization dawning on both of them, the older’s mouth half open but no words escaping, the world around them filtering out into silence. Then the hydrokinetic’s hand gently cupped his jaw, dark brown eyes flitting between his own, searching them – finding unfiltered, carefree joy.

 

_I have a soulmate._

A mixture of tenderness and elation came rolling of the taller to envelop Changkyun, while his own emotional high was giving Wonho a taste of liberation, adoration and excitement all at once, though most of all relief flooded his system.

 

Wonho leaned their foreheads together, breathing in the moment. Changkyun closed his eyes, letting the comforting warmth of Wonho’s emotions fill his entire being.

“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Wonho said quietly. Changkyun chuckled, eyes still closed. “My very own little boyfriend,” he said fondly, voice almost taking a teasing sing-song tone.

 

_Boyfriend. He said “his boyfriend”. So much is happening, I can barely keep up._

 

Changkyun’s thoughts spun wildly and his stomach made some violent flips at the thought.

 

“You can’t believe it? I never thought I’d get to be in a relationship, much less be lucky enough to be bonded with someone,” he said dryly with a laugh. Wonho moved away and Changkyun opened his eyes to meet a perplexed face.

 

“Why wouldn’t you?” he asked, sounding genuinely confused. Changkyun bit his lip, realizing his mistake only now. _“Why did I say that? Of course he wouldn’t let it pass as a joke.”_ He knew that no matter how he answered the question, he would be digging into himself. The air shifted instantly around them as the mood changed.

 

“I’ve, you know, kinda made trouble wherever I’ve gone, so I just came to the conclusion that…” finding that he didn’t know how to finish the sentence, Changkyun let it trail off, uneasiness beginning to settle in his stomach.

 

“That you weren’t worth loving?” Wonho concluded, a touch of frustration distinguishable in his voice.

 

“No, I just meant-” he hurried to correct the older, but didn’t know what he’d originally meant, just hearing how horribly self-deprecating it had sounded. “It felt selfish,” he finally concluded in a mumble, coming clean, but feeling extremely uncomfortable now, the previous joy leaving him at a rapid pace. The formerly gentle hold around him was beginning to feel more and more like a shackle to keep him from running than a hug, his anxiety levels rising.

 

_So much for “getting high every day”._

 

“Selfish?” the other echoed, not entirely understanding – or actually was grasping what the younger meant, but wanted to hear it coming from Changkyun’s own mouth. Said person emitted a discontent noise and tensed his muscles in preparation of standing up, now feeling trapped and restless sitting down. A hand around his wrist stopped him however, and dread was starting to grasp at him along with it.

 

“Changkyunnie, what do you mean by selfish?” Wonho pried, not wanting to let the subject go.

 

“Hyung, please, I don’t want to talk about it,” he tried, but Wonho persisted.

 

_You can’t keep running away from your feelings, Changkyun._

Agitation and anxiety was now potent in the air, the previously warm atmosphere cracking like an egg and oozing out discomfort. Wonho let Changkyun go as the younger stood up, not wanting to aggravate the other further, but rose slowly along with him. His hands hovered in an uncertain ghost hold around the shorter. How much more could he push before it became too much?

 

“I want to know, Changkyun,” he pleaded, knowing that this subject was most likely never going to be breached for a second time after this day – ever again. It was going to be stashed and locked away into Changkyun’s mental folder of non-disclosable subjects of discomforts, never to be discussed with anyone. A common telltale sign was the self-derogatory jokes – as Changkyun often hid his emotions with humor. Wonho had noticed that it wasn’t just the typical modern-day hyperboles and casual nihilism that every teenager used in this era; Changkyun was only half-joking when saying something to self-deprecating or the like – which was what had started the entire discussion they were in. It was probably a subconscious habit, but Wonho wasn’t sure. Now that he was showing obvious distress only proved Wonho right.

 

The problem today was that this wasn’t like after that one patrol in the woods a few of weeks ago, when the younger already had his defenses down, mind and body both too tired to fight conversations like these – now Wonho had to pry and plead and hope that the younger would eventually relent to convey what was going through his head.

 

Changkyun’s eyes avoided him and darted around the place like a deer caught in headlights, looking for something or anything to distract and divert the discussion with. Wonho could clearly feel the fretfulness from the other, coiling in his stomach as if it were his own.

 

“Wonho, please.”

 

At hearing the plead, Wonho’s heart clenched – a last desperate measure of escape. Shaking his head, he steeled himself and let the silence continue to hang, expectantly eyeing the umbrakinetic. Wonho was rewarded eventually, gently grasping Changkyun’s hand as encouragement when their gazes met.

“You’ll think it’s stupid,” the younger whispered at last.

 

_He’s embarrassed?_

 

“You see me as judgmental?” he asked – rhetorically – but sincerely hoped Changkyun didn’t, as Wonho was honestly the last person to judge. Sensing that the answer was in fact “no”, Wonho felt relived but decided to reassure the younger further.

 

“We’ve been able to share our thoughts and emotions many times before, are we going to stop just because our relationship has changed?” his eyebrows wrinkled as he tilted his head to catch the eyes that had fallen from his own, giving Changkyun a small smile. “ _Many times_ ” was maybe pushing it, as Wonho had often one-sidedly been the one sharing, but Changkyun had definitely confided in the second oldest the most out of all the members. Well, lately it’d been Jooheon, but that wasn’t important right now.

 

“Just ‘cause we established that our feelings are connected, doesn’t mean that I can read your mind Changkyunie. I need to know what’s going on inside that head of yours.” He spoke softly, trying his hardest not to agitate the other any further, but made it clear that it wasn’t an option to say no either. “I honestly just want you to feel better.”

 

_I don’t want to keep guessing._

 

He’d become good – _very good_ – at reading Changkyun, but most of the time only what his behaviors meant. Changkyun is doing that; he’s irritated. He’s doing this; he’s feeling down. But never what _exactly_ what it was that triggered each mood, leaving Wonho guessing and fumbling to patch the kid together with his guesses and estimations. However, this time, Changkyun wasn’t in a “mood” – this was more likely something that had been inside the younger’s mind for a longer time, was Wonho’s educated guess. He knew that frequent anxiety and self-doubt riddled Changkyun’s mind – had for a long time – but wanted to know the cause to be able to help him, or, at least relieve his head of infected thoughts.

 

“Can we take this outside?” Changkyun quietly asked, looking at the gradually more crowded crater. The entirety of the Seventeen clan was out, most likely preparing for the upcoming party for their anniversary – the plans had been pushed forward due to untimely weather each time it had been re-scheduled, and now thanks to the incessant rain the past whole week. They’d even begun digging out a form of mess hall to be able to host the party indoors instead, Shownu of course lending a hand when he could.

 

Wonho, however, almost forgot to answer in his surprise that the younger was willing to talk about it after all, but breathed a soft “of course” in relief.

 

-

 

After a short stop at the clan dorm – aka; opening the door and yelling “we’re going out in the woods!” without waiting for a reply, the pair headed out into the vast forest surrounding the hidden crater.

 

The smell of damp mulch was even stronger out here than inside the crater, filling their noses and welcoming them. The stillness of the forest was inviting and Wonho could sense some of the agitation dissipating from his boyfriend. _His soulmate._

 

Had it been another occasion, Wonho would’ve right-out danced and cheered at the mere thought of actually being able to call the younger _his_. Right now though, they had things to sort through. After walking a few minutes between the tall trees and summer-green bushes, the older broke the silence.

 

“Now, do you think you can try to tell me why it felt selfish?” Wonho kept his voice light.

 

Hearing a sigh, he watched the dark haired kid stuff his hands down his pockets and fixate his eyes on the ground, preparing an answer.

 

“I already had so much, before this,” he said slowly and gestured between them, but kept his gaze lowered. “I had found a home, brothers.” _Family._

 

“It’s more than what I’ve been able to hope for, so I didn’t want to destroy anything. It felt, like I’ve said, selfish to want more than that. You guys have already done so much for me, getting nothing in return, and I already feel like I owe you too much. So, I felt like I was greedily asking for more – _too much_ – when I realized my feelings for you.” He was beginning to repeat himself in his hurry to get his thoughts across, with his arms coming up to cross tightly against his chest, shifting his weight from one feet to the other.

 

Wonho only nodded, afraid that any verbal response could be interpreted wrongly and interrupt Changkyun’s tirade.

 

“I should have been happy with what I had already had got,” he said, head turned sideways with a distressed wrinkle between his eyebrows. “I’m not saying that I’m unhappy with this,” he once more gestured between them, his hand moving hurriedly, “or anything, I am. But, yeah, that was what I meant by being selfish,” words tumbling out in his haste to explain, eloquence forgotten.

 

Mistaking Wonho’s continued silence for disapproval, he began rambling again until the older hastily stepped forward to halt his nervous explanations.

 

“I’m so happy you told me what you were thinking,” Wonho told him, taking a hold of the upper arms of the younger, still crossed tightly.

 

That got the younger to finally meet the taller’s tender gaze, brow unfurrowing slightly.

 

“Changkyun, it’s  _good_ to want something for yourself. It’s not something you should punish yourself for,” he told him firmly.

“But I feel guilty for never returning the favor to you guys. I hate being in debt,” he said bitterly.

 

“Kkukkungie, we’re _friends_. It’s what we do for each other,” he said, tone leaving nothing up for discussion.

 

_What have they done to you, Changkyunie?_

 

“Families don’t keep tallies,” he stated.

 

As much as he could feel the elation from the other at hearing his words, Wonho could still sense some apprehension from the kid. Of course, he knew that having one conversation wouldn’t magically dissolve all insecurities that’d been piling up throughout the years, but it was a start.

 

“ _It’s a work in progress. There’s already been some big steps today,_ ” The older consoled himself with.

 

“Besides, thinking in that way will never make  _anything_ happen. If you never had want – a goal – you’d just be done. Right here, right now. You could pause your life right now and fast forward until your day of death and you wouldn’t have missed a thing,” Wonho said a bit dryly, sensing that the previous tension had dissolved somewhat. Detecting a snide comment he quickly spoke again.

 

“And no, Changkyunie, I’m not encouraging you to become a megalomaniac to take over the world, just trying to encourage some self-worth in you,” he smiled. “Should you ever enter the danger zone of actually becoming greedy or selfish or whatever,” he paused briefly to reduce the small space between them. “I’ll be the first one to tell you.” Wonho pulled him close by snaking his arms around the younger’s waist.

 

Trying not to let the sudden closeness distract him – ignoring the burning sensation in his cheeks – Changkyun spoke, the openness of the conversation allowing him to talk more freely now.

 

“But it feels like you’re doing so much for me, and get nothing in return,” he protested.

 

“I beg to differ,” he said calmly, “have you already forgotten last night, as an example?”

 

_Oh. But that was…_

_Oh._

 

“Even if you might not realize it yourself, you really do help, and are already plenty selfless.” Wonho reassured. Not getting any answer, the older continued. “Like this; the fact that you worry that we might see you as selfish already proves the opposite. An _actually_ selfish person wouldn’t even bother to consider the thought of how others might see them.”

 

“I suppose,” Changkyun meekly agreed.

 

It became quiet for a while, Changkyun seemingly deep in thought.

 

_Alright, enough with the heavy._

 

Wonho poked the younger’s nose to gather his attention, a smile spreading on his lips.

 

“Now that we’ve got that out of the way, do you, my adorable _boyfriend_ , wanna go on an ice cream date with me?”

 

A smile.

 

“Gladly.”

 

-

 

The screams had been absolutely bloodcurdling. They still rang loudly in Seyun’s mind as she sat and tried to down her now ice cold coffee with shaky hands in the little bleak break room. She’d been suspicious of why the pay for the job was as good as it was. The offer she had gotten had almost been too good to be true – a long term contract with an extremely high pay, including different work perks, such as a car, and a good pension to boot. She was still quite fresh in this area, with little to no work experience, and although her grades had been top of the class it was weird to be offered such a position as she had. Seyun wasn’t stupid. A pay this high could only mean one thing – making sure they kept quiet. Having signed the contract she had also been sworn to secrecy, but the W.C.H.W used both carrot and stick it would seem.

 

She had shown clear interest for mutations during her studies and written a couple of high-sung reports about different human mutations while getting her Masters degree and had not been able to begin her PhD before she’d been contacted about a job offer. She had probably been scouted because of one of them, and hadn’t even thought about sorting through her options when she’d first gotten explained to what exactly the Warden of Civilian Health and Well-being was dealing with.

 

They would want her back in the operation room soon. They had been opening up a kid, a boy in his late teens, with high-speed regeneration abilities but had underestimated the amount of sedation they needed to get, and to keep him, unconscious.

 

The other scientists had barely blinked as he had jerked awake and screamed in bloody murder, twisting against the restraints holding him to the table.

 

Seyun knew when she’d started that she would have to compromise her morals a bit to be able to sleep at night, it _was,_ after all, to save humanity from freaks of their own kind, but this… This had been on another level.

 

They’d sent her out after seeing her reaction and had ordered her to take a moment before returning to the operation room.

 

She had dissected things before, many times in fact, but they had all been dead before they’d even entered the building. This was different. Very different. What had she gotten herself into? It had been about four months since she started, and had finally been allowed to participate in the so called “investigations”.

 

They truly were incredible beings, the mutants. Each one so different from the other, but still so similar. Why? Why did they work the way they did? And how? How this mutation come to life, and what makes it possible? That was why Seyun had accepted the offer; her burning curiosity for the unknown and the altered.

 

If she was completely honest with herself, the behaviors department scared her. Never showed it, of course, but the few times she’d been there her blood had run cold and the images of the hollow eyes and the metal collars around their necks made her sick. She shuddered as she gripped the ceramic mug tighter, willing the memories away.

 

Rapt knocking on the door pulled her out of her reverie and made her head turn towards the doorway, seeing one of the more senior assistants standing at the doorpost. Clad entirely in white, with only eyes visible behind thin glasses he could have passed for a professional surgeon if not for the dark stains of blood decorating his arms and front.

 

“We need you back in there,” he stated, voice monotone. He glanced down at her hands, still in a white-knuckled hold around the mug. Had she not been closely working with him for a long time, she probably wouldn’t have noticed the way his eyes tightened only the slightest at the sight.

 

“Now,” was all he said after a while as he glanced up at her again, not waiting for Seyun’s response before turning and walking away.

 

_I’m fine, thank you dear for asking._

 

She emptied out her coffee slowly, dragging out time as much as she could before she began making her trek back towards the sanitation station. She silently began cleaning her hands besides her empathetic colleague, trying not to make it obvious that she was going as slow as possible but instead just being meticulous.

 

_Here we go._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanna know smth? Changkyun is kinda based off of me. he's a bit more extreme version of me when it comes to insecurites and so on, and i pull inspiration from what have caused my insecurities and anxiety, be it different groups of people i've been with or just smth that's happened. very interesting right. Anyway, now u know lol 
> 
> Also, i live for comments, so please do write down your thoughts about my work, and thank you all for reading<3

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this mess<3  
> Feel free to drop a kudos or maybe even leave a comment? I would sincerely LOVE to hear what you thought! (Plus the perfectionist in me would like to eliminate any and all misspellings and grammatical errors, so if there’s anything that you find annoying when reading, please do tell! )  
> Ask me anything if you're confused, I'll answer as soon as I can :D


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